Tasting Fire
by PennyKelly
Summary: Hermione is looking for more in life. Her time in Romania is coming to an end, but she isn't sure she wants to leave. When Charlie Weasley talks her into a career change, will tasting fire leave her burning for more or just burned? AU, not DH compliant. Pairing: Hermione G. Charlie W.
1. Chapter 1: Paralyzer

**A/N:** This is my very first fic, any feedback is greatly appreciated. Not much M in this one, but there is to come. I'm having a bit of trouble with the formatting and hope to get it resolved for chapter 2.

 **Disclaimers:** I do not own or make money off of Harry Potter or any properties related to it.

 **Edited to fix formatting and final grammar corrections. 8/16/18**

 **Paralyzer**

Hermione clung to her glass of firewhisky, wishing it was cooling her instead of making her blood boil. That was the problem with the popular drink, it heated you through to the core the more you drank it. In the oppressive heat of the club, it was a bad choice. She'd been hit by the wall of body heat when they'd arrived and could feel a thin layer of perspiration gathering on her own skin just standing in the back and watching the dancers. She wasn't sure how those partaking in the dancing had not collapsed into puddles. She sighed and studied her drink for a moment. She'd not bothered with the ice for her second drink, it melted much too quickly in the magically enhanced beverage. She wondered if the claims of it giving the drinker more courage could be based on an enchantment or if it was merely a side effect of the lack of inhibitions one could feel when drinking. Then again, there really wasn't a way for her to test her theory. Not that it mattered, even with Gryffindor courage and firewhisky in play she wasn't convinced she could actually force herself onto the dance floor.

She scanned the crowd, trying to pick out any of the people she'd come here with. She was not having fun. She should have stayed home. Nightclubs, it turned out, were not for her. She couldn't hear anything over the thumping music and had no intention of dancing with any of the strange men who had approached her. It wasn't that none of them were attractive or she wouldn't otherwise be interested in them, she just wasn't comfortable here. This Muggle inspired dance club was definitely one of those situations she had been ill-prepared for. She did not like feeling unprepared. She sighed and took a long pull of her drink, letting the burn linger on her tongue.

She desperately wanted to be back in her cabin reading. She probably still would have enjoyed a drink before turning in, but she would have been able to nurse it for several hours. Here she was feeling the pressure to down one after the other in a misguided attempt to calm her frazzled nerves. She honestly couldn't figure out why she was still here at all. After the other researchers had disappeared into the throng she could have left. But here she was, a mildly uncomfortable wallflower nursing a drink she wasn't even sure she still wanted.

She normally wouldn't have even considered joining the other reserve employees for a night of heavy drinking and debauchery. She had never really outgrown her tendency to seek out solitude and a good book over parties and late nights. That had contributed to the breakdown in her relationship with Ron. After the war, she'd wanted to fade into obscurity and get on with her studies. He didn't, he was enjoying the celebrity and adventure-filled career being an Auror brought him. She didn't think poorly of him for it, but she didn't want that life anymore. She wanted something different. They'd made a fair shake of it, working at their relationship for more than a year before finally calling it quits. Now he was with a wonderful woman he'd met at the Ministry. He'd owled her only a couple weeks before to say he'd bought a ring and was waiting for the right moment. She was genuinely excited for him despite the pangs of jealousy his pending engagement caused. Afterall, she was twenty-five and woefully alone.

When she'd first come to the reserve six months ago she had not put much thought into building relationships with people. She'd overheard some of the rumours about herself and secretly wished they were true. No one would have guessed that the buttoned-up bookworm desperately wanted to be the kind of woman to snog in the back of poorly lit pubs and drag a string of lovers home for one night stands. She hadn't so much as kissed someone the entire time she'd been there. She'd heard some of the tamers joke about wanting to get a leg over her, but none of them had ever actually approached her. The thought of it built a fire inside her. If only they had asked… She did nothing to stop the rumours while simultaneously trying not to make them worse. She just liked that they were talking about her for a reason other than her relationship with Harry or what she'd done in the war. Even if the stories were massively more entertaining than the truth.

She vaguely wondered if the fake version of herself was why she had lingered in the Carpathian Mountains for so long. She had never intended to stay as long as she had, her dragon rotation should have been three months and then on to the next creature. Romania was just one of many stops on her year-long tour of magizoological outposts while she decided what creatures she wanted to work with. She hadn't counted on falling so thoroughly in love with the giant lizards. The more she'd been able to research the powerful beasts up close, the more she yearned to work with them hands on. Something she could only do by officially registering her intent to become a dragonologist and taking an apprenticeship under an experienced handler. She'd run out her research extensions and it was now or never. She'd have to tell them by the end of the month if she was serious about staying on and getting her hands dirty or if she was ready to move on elsewhere.

The assumption that this was her last month with the team was why she'd been invited out in the first place. She'd not really bonded with the research team, preferring the company of the tamers and healers over the men and women buried in their notes. She'd had a lifetime of being buried in notes and research while she was at Hogwarts. She wanted to discover things herself now, not just read about what others had already found. She'd flitted at the edges of the social circles of the research team, never really getting too close to any of them. In a last-ditch effort to make her feel included they'd tossed out the invitation to join them tonight. They were looking to get pissed and blow off steam. Hermione had agreed, hoping to feel out how they'd respond to her staying and changing programs. It had not occurred to her that the main point of this excursion for most of the group was to find somebody to take them home. After the first drink, the group had slowly trickled away, leaving her to her second drink for company.

Things had fallen apart a bit for her when they'd arrived. She had thought they were going to the pub and was mentally prepared for pints and the smell of cigarette smoke, not the sour sweat smell and two drink minimum of the dance club they'd ended up at. Truthfully, the drink requirement didn't bother her much. It was the dancing. While she did enjoy dancing in a general sense, she had not stayed on top of the dance trends that everyone else had. There was a lot more groping and grinding than she had seen before and she wasn't sure she was comfortable with it. She didn't like the idea of a total stranger putting their hands on her like that without her getting to know them first. She figured that discomfort was exactly why she could never be the bed-hopping witch she purportedly was. She wondered vaguely if the false stories of her one night conquests had contributed to the often frosty reception she got from the research team. This was how she'd ended up on the outside looking in, observing everyone else pair off. In a way, it wasn't that different from watching the dragons circle one another during the mating rituals. She smirked and chuckled to herself as she took another sip of her drink.

Unbeknownst to her, a man had spotted her from across the room and was slowly winding his way through the crowd. He couldn't be sure, but he thought the brunette clad in all black against the far wall looked familiar. He couldn't see her face from this angle, but he was certain he knew her. He was scanning the room for someone to dance with when his eyes passed over her. He drank in her long legs and perfect curves, lingering on her creamy exposed cleavage and red-painted lips. As he got closer his eyes landed on the rest of her face and he realized he'd been appraising the one and only Hermione Granger, rumoured sex kitten of the research team. He wasn't sure he believed the rumours, but he could see why someone would want to brag about bedding her. He continued to appreciate the lines of her body as he made his way to her, purposefully keeping himself out of her line of sight so he could take his time ogling her. He had a primal need to make her move. She was standing so still while everyone else was moving so quickly. He wanted to make her hips move, to see her back arch the way the other dancers' did. He slid up behind her and leaned over to whisper in her ear as a chuckle escaped her lips.

"What's so funny?" She jumped at the familiar voice in her ear and broke into a broad smile. She wrapped the second eldest Weasley in a hug and kissed his cheek. She didn't notice the twitch in his trousers as she backed off him.

"Charlie! When did you get back?"

"Hour or so ago. Henry said he'd heard most everyone headed here tonight. Thought I'd pop in and see who was about and not totally rat-arsed," he scanned the crowd quickly to see if any other reserve faces would pop out at him.

"I'm not sure who's still here if I'm honest. They ditched me ages ago. I came with the research team, I don't think any of the tamers came tonight. At least not with us," she gestured to the packed room with a shrug. She reached for her drink, realising that it had disappeared in the few moments she'd set it down.

"Probably a cleaning charm so they don't have to go 'round collecting the glasses. Come on, I'll buy you another one," he put an arm around her and steered her through the crowd toward the bar.

The closeness stirred Hermione's inner flame. She surprised herself with the sudden zing to her knickers. She had never been attracted to Charlie before, had she? Maybe it was the firewhisky. Wouldn't be the first time it sent her libido into overdrive. He was decent looking enough. Not as handsome as Bill, but few men were. Where the eldest Weasley was comparable to a rock star, the second eldest was more like an athlete. Stocky and broad-shouldered, his muscles well-defined and his skin tanned by the sun. He was by far the most freckled brother, though it was hard to tell with the tan, and he was definitely the shortest. Coming in just short of the twins at 5'10". She was pleasantly surprised to see he still had his ponytail, knowing that it drove Molly spare. She absent-mindedly wondered if the rumours of his tattoos were true. She'd never seen one, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"Hermione?" he was waving his hands in front of her face. She blushed and snapped out of whatever trance she'd been under.

"Sorry, got a bit distracted…" her cheeks flushed.

"What do you want to drink?'

"Ogden's Old Firewhisky. Neat."

"I didn't take you for a whiskey drinker, Granger," Charlie smirked at her, his blue eyes flickering with something she couldn't define.

"Make that two," he relayed to the barkeep, dropping a few galleons on the bar.

It didn't take long for their drinks and she clinked glasses with him as they moved away from the busy counter toward an open booth set just off the dance floor.

"You never did say what was so funny." Charlie pressed, helping her up the small step into the booth. She felt his eyes glide over her and hoped she wasn't blushing. She'd worn the too high heels because of the line they created that he was now admiring.

"I was thinking they look a bit like the dragons when they go in heat. Circling and pressed against each other like that. I keep waiting for one of them to breathe fire," she laughed. Charlie laughed along with her, studying the dancers in much the same way she had been all night.

"Is that why you aren't dancing? Got dragons on the brain?" he teased. She laughed and nervously tossed her hair.

"I'm not much of a dancer, really…" she trailed off.

"Rubbish. I've seen you dance. You love it," he took a long pull of his drink and watched her squirm over his glass.

"I don't know how to dance to this. I've not kept up with the Muggle dance trends. I'm not exactly keen on letting some stranger handle me like that." she admitted. Charlie studied her for a moment before draining his glass. She could see him choose his words carefully before he spoke again.

"I had a feeling those rumours were rubbish." Her cheeks burned red and she stared down into her glass, afraid to look in his eyes.

"Woah. Sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean to upset you…"

"No, it's alright. I guess I just didn't realise you would have heard the things they say about me. And no, they aren't true. I haven't so much as kissed someone in the entire time I've been here." She tentatively made eye contact, surprised when there wasn't a look of pity on his face. He smiled softly at her and reached over to put a hand on her wrist.

"Right well. We've established the rumours are untrue and I've managed to make an arse of myself. Don't suppose there's any way I can salvage this?"

"You didn't make an arse of yourself. I just don't want to talk about it. I know what they say, Charlie, and I've not stopped them." She blushed again and he wondered what was hiding behind that statement. He chose not to push his luck.

"I can show you."

"Show me?"

"How to dance like this," he gestured toward the dancers.

"What?" She nearly yelped, swallowing a large gulp of firewhisky to tamp down her shock.

"Come on, dance with me. Never know, could be fun…"

"Well…" she looked from her half-finished drink to his hand, to his face, and back again. With a sigh, she downed the rest of the glass and took his hand.

Before she could change her mind, Charlie was pulling her onto the dance floor. He led her deeper into the crowd than she was necessarily comfortable with. Her heart was pounding nervously and she was certain the last of the whiskey had gone straight to her head. She started to turn back when he put his hands on her hips and leaned into her. She felt her body flush at the intimate contact. Another zing to her knickers.

"Just move the way I move," he whispered into her ear, tentatively beginning to move his hips into hers. She followed and tried not to think too heavily about the sensation his hands on her hips was causing deep at her core.

She closed her eyes and tried to get into the music. She didn't understand most of the references in the lyrics and tried to focus on the rhythm. She raised her arms and rolled her shoulders a little, getting more into the movements. She experimented with sliding her body up and down his slightly as she'd seen other women do earlier in the night. She thought she heard his breath catch in his throat, but she couldn't be sure.

As the tempo changed going into the next song she experimentally moved one of Charlie's hands across her stomach and reached one of her own behind her to hook behind his neck, pressing her body even closer to his. She felt him tense for a moment and then reposition himself slightly. She wondered if she'd done something wrong.

"You're getting the hang of it," he swallowed, beginning to move with her again. The next few songs she lost herself in the feel of his hands roaming over her and the way he ground his hips into her. The combination of sexual frustration after weeks of no physical contact and firewhisky flooding her mind made her hyper-aware of his every movement. She leaned her head back into him, keeping her eyes closed. Her mind racing through thoughts that were not entirely proper to have about her ex-boyfriend's brother.

She felt his hands slide over her curves and wondered what they'd feel like against bare skin. The stubble on his cheek against her skin sent a shiver down her spine and she arched into him involuntarily. She decided next time she was going to be sweaty in a dark lit room with Charlie Weasley, she wanted a lot less clothing and a lot fewer people. She imagined what his lips would feel like against her skin as the song changed to something much slower. The sudden decrease in energy around them broke her concentration. She opened her eyes and stepped away from him, turning to look into his eyes. She puzzled at the storm she saw in them, but before she could speak he was leading her off the dance floor and back to the bar.

"Sorry," he mumbled, dropping her hand.

"For what?" she furrowed her brow at him.

"I was getting a bit overheated..." he trailed off, rubbing a hand behind his neck as he looked past her, searching for the bartender.

"To be honest, I've been overheating since I got here. I thought we were going to the pub when the girls asked me along tonight. I probably wouldn't have come otherwise." she admitted sheepishly.

"Well, no reason we can't still go to the pub. Horntails is just up the street. He indicated with a nod of his head.

"Alright," she smiled up at him and followed the now relieved looking redhead out onto the street.

"Can I admit something?" He stopped suddenly, turning to her. She nodded.

"I don't usually dance like that either." She laughed at the admission and hooked her arm into his, starting them in the direction of the pub again.

"Glad I'm not the only one that would rather be somewhere else," she admitted. He smiled at her and relaxed significantly, the night air calming his body.

She'd been to Horntails several times before. Usually alone when she wanted somewhere off the reserve for a quiet pint and maybe a bit of live music. She was fond of the dingy little dive with its overly smoky smell and the crowd of regulars huddled around the far end of the bar. The prices were reasonable, the food decent when you'd had a few too many, and the music much more her style. It wasn't uncommon for the regulars to break into song when the wireless wasn't working. A mix of traditional Romanian, British, and Irish tunes was not uncommon. She was particularly fond of the Irish couple that would sometimes bring along their fiddle and bodhran to play along with the singers. She was mildly disappointed to see they weren't there tonight.

"Hermione, haven't seen you in weeks!" The white-haired publican lit up to see her.

"I've been very busy the past month, Grigore. You know Charlie Weasley, yeah?" she slid onto a bar stool and indicated to the man beside her.

"We all know Charlie, regular around these parts. How was England? Everything alright with the family?" he asked as he paused in his wiping down of the bar.

"All is well, old friend. How is your Elena? Still pestering you to retire?" Charlie slid onto the stool next to her, his knee resting gently against hers. She wondered for a moment if it was intentional.

"She'll never stop. I'd lose what's left of my mind if I stopped working though, Charl. You know how much I love this old place." He looked content as he let out a sigh.

"Well, that'll be enough of that. What are you drinking tonight?" he straightened.

"Ogden's, neat. Put it on my tab." Charlie answered before she could speak.

"I can pay you back..." she started.

"No worries. I've not taken you for a drink in the whole of the time you've been here. Mum would be disappointed in me," he laughed easily, sipping at the drink Grigore had put in front of him. Hermione laughed at the thought of Molly taking him to task for not socializing enough with her.

"It's not like we see each other much, Charlie. You aren't exactly on the level of the research interns. You're in the field a lot more than I am." She sighed.

"Sounds to me like you'd like to be in the field yourself, Granger," he looked at her over his glass for the second time that night. She squirmed under his gaze, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks again.

"I don't want to do solely academic research. I want to get my hands dirty. I see the tamers and I get this feeling in my stomach like that's what I'm meant to be doing," she explained in a near whisper. He studied her intensely for a moment and her heart began to race.

"Your research extension is just about up, isn't it?" he asked, sighing and setting the glass back down.

"I have to tell them what I want to do by the end of the month. I don't know that I've decided," she explained, sipping her drink and not making eye contact.

"I think you have. I think you want to be a tamer," he pressed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I think that's what I want. But I don't know for sure," she shrugged.

"You said you feel like that's what you're meant to be doing. So do it," he shrugged back.

"It's not that simple. Just because I feel it, doesn't mean I know it. I want to know for sure," she explained, running her finger along the rim of her glass.

"How are you supposed to know if you don't try it? You've jumped in feet first in the field of danger before, Granger. I know those stories are true." He knocked back the rest of his drink and signaled for another. She quickly did the same, studying him for a moment.

"That was different. And I researched thoroughly before we did most things. We very rarely went into things completely blind…"

"You're on the research team here, what more do you need to know before you can make a decision?" He pressed.

"I'm not sure. I guess I just don't know if I'd be any good at it. Doesn't matter how many tests I take or papers I write, there's no way to know if I'd be rubbish in the field or not," she sighed and looked around the room.

"How did you know?" she asked suddenly.

"I felt it. I know that's not the answer you're looking for, but I felt that I'd be good at it. First time I ever got close to a dragon I knew for sure. It's one of those things that's based on instinct, there's only so much you can prepare for that," he explained.

"Oh." She frowned slightly at the answer and drained half of her glass as she mulled over his response.

"I have an idea." Charlie tipped back the rest of his glass and dropped a large tip on the bar. She raised her eyebrows in confusion and quickly finished her own glass before following him out into the night.

"You've already let me show you how to dance, let me show you how to approach a dragon," he explained, grabbing her arm and side along apparating them back onto reserve grounds before she could protest.

"Charlie, you can't possibly be serious!" She fought against his tug, eyes wide.

"You trusted me earlier, trust me now. I know what I'm doing." He all but dragged her down the dimly lit dirt road toward one of the enclosures. He pulled her through the gate and into the open field. She froze in awe when they came within several yards of a slumbering beast.

She stared at the Common Welsh Green resting in front of her. It was smaller than the one Fleur had faced in the Triwizard Tournament so she assumed this one was younger. It was nearly two metres long and her heart jumped into her throat as it raised its head to study them.

"Charlie…" she breathed, squeezing his hand with all her might.

"Do you want to meet her?" He stepped behind her and whispered in her ear. Before she could answer he was walking her even closer to the dragon as it blinked its great eyes with curiosity.

The dragon seemed to recognize Charlie and stretched its head toward them as they approached.

"She likes to be scratched under her chin," Charlie explained as he did just that.

Hermione was at a loss for words as her fingers came in contact with an adult dragon for the first time.

"They've let us touch the babies before, but never an adult…." she breathed.

"Ioana isn't full grown just yet, but she was born here and is used to humans."

"Ioana?" She stepped away from Charlie and moved closer to the dragon, who blinked at hearing her name.

"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." She continued to scratch the dragon's chin, it seemed to sigh as a puff of air hit Hermione in the face.

"You're a powerful thing aren't you? I can feel your magic. I bet you're a wonderful flyer." The beast seemed to nod her head at this as if she understood the witch.

"That's the way, Hermione. They like to be sweet talked." Charlie appeared behind her again and murmured in her ear. Before she could register his sudden closeness Ioana spread her great wings and took off into the night sky.

"Oh!" she gasped as the beautiful green lizard took to the air. Charlie chuckled softly and began to lead her back out of the enclosure. Safely on the other side of the containment wards, Hermione threw her arms around Charlie's neck.

"That was… she was…"

"Beautiful dragon, isn't she?" He laughed, extracting the little witch from his neck.

"She's wonderful." She breathed, turning away from him to watch her swoop through the sky in lazy loops before touching back down in the grass.

"Most people would have been too afraid to touch a dragon, let alone speak to it. Still think you won't be good at this?" he asked. She shook her head, still in awe of what she'd just done.

"I think I've got some paperwork to file…" she trailed off, beginning to head in the direction of her cabin. Charlie jogged to catch her, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

"So what made you make up your mind so suddenly?" he asked.

"I could feel it," she stopped and looked up into his eyes. She saw something there she couldn't quite place. He smirked then pulled her in for a hug.

"Told you there are some things you just feel." He pushed back from her slightly and brought his lips gently to hers. She gasped at the contact and stepped back from him.

"I… I'm so sorry, Hermione, I thought…" He started before she grabbed his face and crashed her mouth into his. He wrapped his arms around her and followed her lead this time, letting her set the rhythm for their dancing lips.

After several long moments, she pulled back slightly and began searching his eyes. They were a perfect storm like they'd been in the club and for the first time, she recognized it as desire.

"Come home with me," she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2: Take Me On the Floor

**AN:** I wanted to get the second chapter up fairly quickly as I will be out of town next week and unable to post. I ended up splitting it in two, so if I finish the next part before Sunday a third chapter will go up this week as well. You may have noticed that the chapter titles are song titles. Paralyzer is by Finger Eleven, Take Me On the Floor is by The Veronicas.

 **Disclaimers:** I do not own or make money off of Harry Potter or any properties related to it.

 **Edited for formatting and grammar 8/26/18**

 **Take Me On the Floor**

"I don't know, Hermione…" he started, the strain in his voice not matching his words.

"Why not?" she asked, her confidence wavering again. She pushed away from him slightly.

"You aren't like the stories they make up about you… " he rationalized.

"Maybe I want to be." Her voice was so low he wasn't sure he'd heard her at all.

"What?" he asked, perplexed.

"Maybe I haven't stopped the things they say about me because I want them to be true." She blushed fiercely at the admission, crossing her arms over herself and stepping further away.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He reached for her, just barely grazing her cheek. She turned back toward him but kept her distance.

"I don't want to be this lonely person anymore. I haven't made many friends here, haven't been on a single date. Yet somehow there are these stories of me taking men home and never calling again…"

"People here talk. If you don't give them anything to talk about, they'll make something up. It's worse than school sometimes." Charlie shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"But why can't I be that person they're making up stories about? Would it really be so bad?"

"Do you really want that?" His voice didn't hold any judgment.

"I don't want to be alone every night anymore. Why shouldn't I take a man home if I need release? I haven't had a serious relationship since Ron, and that was years ago. I'm twenty-five, that's too young to live like an old maid." She sounded angry, whether it was with herself or the situation Charlie couldn't tell.

"If you're sure…" he started, reaching for her again. Before he could finish, her lips were on his again.

It didn't take long for them to end up in her hallway, having apparated as quickly as their lips touched. She kissed him with all the fire she felt in her soul. All the pent-up weeks of sexual frustration and loneliness. Charlie felt the desperation and pain spill from her and returned the kiss hungrily, wondering vaguely how they'd ended up in this position so quickly. She deepened the kiss and tangled her hands in his hair, tugging the tie from it. He groaned into her mouth as she tugged on the roots and arched into him. He moved from her lips to her jaw, trailing his mouth to her neck, licking and biting his way to the junction with her shoulder. He sucked the skin into his mouth and felt her slide her hands down to the hem of his shirt. She moaned and began running her hands under his shirt to his back, exploring the broad expanse of muscle. He massaged her breasts and positioned his leg in between hers as he pushed her harder against the wall. She rocked involuntarily forward and groaned. She felt his need pulse against her and caught his mouth with hers again before giving him a small shove. He backed away a few steps, a look of confusion crossing his face. He took in her flushed skin and dilated eyes, seeing that she was startled by her own reaction. She looked at him wild-eyed and starved for a moment before tearing off her top and reaching over to remove his.

"Merlin, Hermione…" he mumbled, closing the gap between them, grappling with the hooks on her bra. He deposited the offending item of clothing on the floor and began to devour every inch of her from her neck down to her collarbone. He groped her breasts, occasionally tweaking her hardening nipples, as he marked her skin. She moaned and pulled at his hair as he took her left nipple into his mouth. She started to slide down the wall, pulling him with her to the floor. She cried out as he lightly bit her nipple before sucking it back into his mouth. She felt him smile against her skin before moving to the other breast and giving it the same attention. His hands felt like fire on her skin, his every touch making her hotter and hotter. She stretched her arms out over her head as he began to kiss and lick his way down her body. He bit her right hip, taking her by surprise. She arched off the floor, giving him the room he needed to pull her jeans off. He continued exploring her body with his mouth, using his lips, teeth, and tongue to stimulate her skin until her body nearly vibrated with sensation. She was so wound up she wasn't sure how much more she could take and she wasn't keen for things to be over so quickly.

"Wait," she breathed, sitting up.

"Do you want to stop?" Charlie asked, looking into her eyes.

"Not a chance." She guided him back to her mouth, kissing him passionately as she moved to straddle him.

She kissed down the length of his throat to his chest, grazing her teeth across the hard muscle as she made her way lower. She looked up at him with mischief in her eyes when she saw the Swedish Short-Snout tattooed across his lower abdomen. She carefully traced the outline with the tip of her tongue, feeling him shiver beneath her. He twined a hand through her hair, tugging at the roots. She groaned and kissed the dragon lightly before starting to undo his belt. She had barely brushed her lips across the flesh above his waistband when he reached for his wand and vanished his remaining clothing and her knickers.

"If you do that, you won't get anything else out of me tonight," he growled, flipping her beneath him again and kissing her roughly, a groan escaping her lips when he bit her lower lip. He ran his fingers through her folds, teasing her slit and smirking at the wetness there.

"Don't tease. I want you. Now." She breathed, arching into his touch.

Another growl escaped his lips as he pushed back slightly and maneuvered her hips. He lined himself up and eased into her. A long moan escaped her at the long forgotten feeling of being filled. He slowly worked himself in and out of her, dragging her moans out further.

"You're so tight…" he gasped before leaning into her and picking up the pace. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her legs around his waist, gripping his shoulders tightly as he slammed into her harder and harder.

"Sweet Merlin, Charlie!" she cried, unable to control the volume of her cries anymore.

She dug one hand into his shoulder and reached the other down between them to stimulate her swollen nub. His eyes bore into her as her release began to build, feeling her walls contracting around him. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and arched into his thrusts. His name escaped her lips again as she orgasmed and drug her nails down his shoulder. He wasn't far behind her. He collapsed onto her, both of them panting heavily. She felt his heart hammering against her chest and gently ran her fingers through his hair, basking in the afterglow. He removed himself from her and gently kissed her throat as he rolled to the floor next to her.

"Bloody hell, I needed that..." she managed after a few moments of catching her breath. Charlie chuckled next to her, propping himself up on one elbow to look down at her.

"I normally like to take my time more, but I couldn't take it anymore."

"You can owe me for next time," she sighed.

"Next time?" he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"After that, I don't think a one night stand is going to cut it," she laughed.

"That good, huh?" he smirked. She smacked his chest and sat up.

"Come on." She stood and offered him a hand to get up. He accepted and took in their surroundings for the first time.

"It really has been a while, hasn't it? I don't know that I've ever had sex in someone's hallway before." She blushed furiously, realizing he was right. They'd barely made it through the door.

"I think I need a shower," she mumbled. Charlie took in her sex-mussed hair and the light sheen of sweat across her skin, smiling to himself. He made to gather the clothing on the floor as she extricated her wand from her discarded jeans and started toward the back of the cabin.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked suddenly. He stared at her in confusion.

"You, Charlie Weasley, also need a shower." She lectured, giving him a once over as her eyes flashed hungrily. He felt his member twitch and dropped his clothes on the floor again, following her down the hall.

Hermione wordlessly flicked her wand to turn on the lights and shower. It didn't take long for the room to begin to fill with steam. She slid the curtain aside and stepped inside, sighing as the hot water hit her back. She beckoned Charlie to her and pulled him under the stream after he climbed in. She bit her lip staring up at him. She couldn't believe what she'd just done. His eyes were closed as the water hit his face, she took it as an opportunity to see his body in the light. She took in the multitude of freckles and light scarring that covered his chest. Unbidden, her fingertips traced the outline of his dragon tattoo again. He groaned and popped his eyes open.

"Sorry." She giggled.

"Want to hear about it?" he asked, his voice still a little gravelly. She nodded and continued to explore the ink.

"That one there is Andromeda, first dragon I ever rescued."

"Andromeda?" she looked into his eyes, her fingers stilling over the beast.

"After my then girlfriend's mother. Seemed like a good idea at the time." He shrugged.

"You mean Tonks?" He nodded and switched places with her then, letting her thoroughly wet her mass of curls before turning to show her his back. She saw two large dragons, one on each side of his upper back.

"The Hebridean Black on the right is Raibert and the Peruvian Vipertooth on the left is Evy. I'll tell you the stories some time about how each of them nearly killed me," he laughed.

"You got tattoos of two dragons that nearly killed you?" she asked with shock as he turned back to her.

"That I did. You'll see once you're in the field. You'll want to remember the ones that nearly take you down. There's something powerful about facing down a dragon and surviving." She saw mischief and fire flicker in his eyes as he explained.

"They look Muggle," she mused, having noted the lack of telltale animation that distinguished magical tattoos.

"They are. I find I prefer them. This one is magic..." he shrugged and gestured to his left calf. She couldn't quite see what the design was and kneeled to get a better look. His breath caught in his throat and his member twitched again.

The image circled his calf a few times, blowing a bit of flame in Hermione's direction. She chuckled lightly and gently grazed its back with her fingertips. The Romanian Longhorn blew a puff of smoke contentedly and curled into her touch. She giggled and looked up to see Charlie's eyes studying her intently.

"Why the Longhorn?" she sat back on her heels, looking up at him. She saw his tongue run across his bottom lip subconsciously as he looked down at her. Belatedly, she caught sight of his growing erection.

"When I got the placement in Romania it's how I celebrated," he explained, his voice tight. She surprised him by shifting back onto her knees and running her hands up his legs to his thighs.

"What are you doing." he groaned as she took him in her hand and slowly twisted her wrist as she moved up and down his length.

"What does it look like," she murmured with a smirk.

His eyes went wide as she licked her lips and tore her eyes away from his, refocusing her attention on his cock. She leaned forward and ran her tongue over the underside before taking the head into her mouth. He closed his eyes and relished the sensation of her bobbing mouth. She relaxed her throat and took more of him in than he expected, a hiss escaping his lips. He reached down and tangled his hands in her hair, resisting the urge to thrust.

Hermione watched his reactions, trying to determine what he liked. She had more experience with the art of the blowjob than most would assume and knew men could be particular about how their dangly bits were handled. She used her free hand to massage his balls, rolling them in her palm and squeezing lightly. She let her teeth graze experimentally over the head of his cock as she dipped back down again. His sack constricted as he approached orgasm. She sped up the pace, taking as much of him in as possible with each downward motion, and increased the pressure with her hand. Moments later he exploded in her mouth. He opened his eyes again, locking on hers as she swallowed the hot stream and removed her mouth from him.

"Good Godric, witch," he managed, helping her to her feet. She squeaked as he kissed her hard, pushing her against the tile in response.

His tongue delved into her mouth and she felt the fire building inside her again. He moved one hand to her breast and the other down to her sex, skimming through the light dusting of curls. She bucked her hips toward his hand when he slid a finger inside, searching for her spot. She moaned loudly when he found it, making a come hither motion with first one, then two fingers. He kissed down her chest to her stomach, continuing the motion of his fingers. He hooked her leg over his shoulder when he reached her mound, angling her better to meet his exploring tongue. He flicked her nub a few times, shooting lightning through her body. He probed her slit with his tongue, her moans reaching a fever pitch. He felt her tighten around his fingers and redirected his attention to her clit, lightly biting and sucking the highly sensitive bundle of nerves as she shuddered and quaked against him. He lapped her juices as she exploded.

"Bloody hell." She panted as he steadied her and stood again.

"That's twice I've made you swear tonight," he smirked, kissing her gently this time.

"You'd be surprised how much you could make me swear, Charlie," she teased, reaching past him for her shampoo. They washed quickly, kissing and grazing against one another as the water rapidly began to cool.

They cast drying charms, Charlie summoned his clothes from the hallway, and Hermione ducked into her bedroom for her pyjamas. She pulled her hair into a messy top knot and yanked an old tee shirt and sweats on over clean knickers. When she finished she turned to see Charlie standing in her doorway in just his jeans with his shirt and boots in his hands.

"Did you want me to stay?" he asked. She couldn't tell what he wanted her answer to be and struggled to formulate a response.

"I don't really know how to answer that," she admitted, sitting on the end of her bed. He sat next to her with his things in his lap, reaching over to tuck an errant curl behind her ear.

"That depends on what you want out of tonight."

"I honestly don't know. I've never slept with someone without dating them first. I wasn't joking before when I said I didn't want to be that person anymore." She met his eyes, but he couldn't read the emotions there.

"It's okay if you want me to leave. Not all flings end with a walk of shame or an awkward conversation over the lack of breakfast," he laughed.

"Had many one night stands, Mr. Weasley?" She teased.

"A few. Here and there…" he trailed off, taking his eyes off hers.

"What if I don't want this to be a one-night thing, but I don't want you to stay?" She worried her bottom lip as she stared at their clasped hands.

"It doesn't have to be a one-time thing, but you should know I'm a terrible boyfriend..." he started, choosing his next words carefully.

"Is it just sex you're looking for? I'm not against that, necessarily, but I haven't done anything like that before. The friends with benefits thing, that is," he tried to catch her eye again.

"I don't think I want anything that… formalized. No titles. I just want to know that in a couple weeks if I can't find someone else to take me home I can call you," she admitted, sheepishly. He chuckled at her answer.

"So, you're saying you want to be able to hit me up for a booty call if you can't get anyone else to sleep with you? Something tells me you aren't going to be hurting for offers in that department, Granger, but if that's what you want I'm okay with that." He shrugged and squeezed her hand again, before dropping it and standing to leave.

"Charlie…" she started before he could apparate away. He stalled and waited for her to finish.

"If you ever… it doesn't have to be…" she struggled to find the right words.

"Are you trying to say if I ever want to call you, I can?" he smirked.

"Yes," she said with more confidence than she felt.

"Good to know. Goodnight, Hermione." He left with a pop and a wicked grin.

Hermione wasn't entirely sure what she'd gotten herself into, but she was excited about the possibilities. Maybe she could do this whole casual sex thing. It was nice to feel so satisfied without having to share her bed after. And if you believed the things that were said about her, she was already living that life anyway. She sighed and crawled up the bed and under the covers. She set her alarm for early the next morning, intending to get her paperwork squared away before the new week. Her mind had been mostly made up when she'd left to go out that night, but now she was confident she wanted to stay. She imagined what it would be like to run her fingers over Ioana's scales again and drifted to sleep with a small smile on her lips.


	3. Chapter 3: Sit Still, Look Pretty

**A/N:** There's going to be multiple updates this week! No naughtiness in this installment, but I promise there's some coming! I may actually get chapter four out tomorrow if things keep going so swimmingly! =) Chapter title is a song by Daya. Unlike the last two, the lyrics don't as literally spell out what is going on, but, it did inspire quite a bit of it.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or make money off of Harry Potter or any properties related to it.

 **Edited for formatting and grammar 8/26/18**

 **Sit Still, Look Pretty**

Hermione woke slowly, her head throbbed lightly and her neck hurt. She reached for her wand and with a wordless flick, turned off the alarm that had not yet begun to ring. Her body still hummed with the activities of the night before as she opened her eyes. Her hands roamed over her sides before stretching her arms above her head, the slight ache of her muscles was delicious. It had been too long since she felt the slight discomfort that could follow a night of passion. She sat up carefully trying to roll the soreness out of her neck and shoulders but found that there were spots the soreness didn't seem to want to leave. She sighed happily, spreading out over the entirety of her queen sized bed one last time, vaguely wondering if she'd need a bit of anti-hangover potion. She was enjoying the sensation of waking sated, but alone. There was something thoroughly wicked about getting the release she'd needed without having to fight for blankets afterward. She wasn't sure if she could pick up just anyone in town, but she was certain she wanted a repeat performance with Charlie.

She had beat the alarm by about fifteen minutes, and still had plenty of time before she wanted to head to Henry's office to try and speak to him about joining the dragonology program. She assumed she would also need to pop in on Jan, the head researcher, and let her know what she had decided to do. After both department heads were satisfied she could send everything off to the Ministry to be officially filed. There was a slight fear nagging at the corners of her mind that she was making such a final decision so quickly. Part of her had no doubt after touching Ioana's scales for the first time that she was absolutely making the right choice. The logical part of her mind didn't understand how she could make a decision based solely on feelings, but she'd done it anyway. She was not going to change her mind now, not while she'd built up the confidence to dive in head first.

She rose slowly and flicked her wand at the wireless she kept on the dresser. She sang along softly and stretched with the music. She shimmied out of her pyjamas and caught sight of herself in the mirror. She was surprised to see the extent of the love bites Charlie had left on her neck, shoulders, and collarbone. No wonder she still had sore spots, the bruises were dark and larger than any she'd had before. She wasn't entirely sure how to cover them up, never having had need of the charm before. Viktor had been careful not to leave anything where it would be visible outside her school uniform and Ron didn't enjoy necking to the extent she did. She wondered if Ginny would still be home to accept a floo call with the time difference.

The longer she stood in just her knickers the more the cold morning air was making her skin prickle. She considered what she should wear, she would worry about the marks later. When she'd first begun her rotation in Romania she'd worn a skirt suit when she first met with Jan, but she doubted it would be appropriate for dropping in on the head tamer. She hadn't spoken to Henry before about her interest in the dragonology program, although she had worked with him on a few occasions to verify information for her research reports. As much as she felt she could be really great at the hands-on work, and she knew Charlie believed the same thing, she wasn't sure if it would be enough to convince the surly head tamer. He didn't dislike her so far as she could tell and hoped the few times they'd interacted left enough of an impression for him to take a gamble on her. She sighed and pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans, a vee neck burgundy tee, and tied a black pullover around her waist. Since she didn't have an appointment she doubted the man would care what she was wearing anyway and she knew she could wear this to work in for the rest of the day. She pulled on socks and work boots before combing out her curls and bundling them into a neater version of the topknot she'd worn to bed.

She brushed her teeth and tried various cosmetic charms to try and cover the exposed marks. When she'd attempted to floo Ginny there didn't appear to be anyone at home. She would have to owl her friend for advice should she ever need the charms again. If it wasn't still summer she would have just thrown on a turtleneck. She thought it would be a bit too out of place when most everyone else would be opting for cooler clothing. She dug a bit of old Muggle makeup from behind the medicine cabinet and did the best she could. In the right light someone would still see them, but since she spent so much time alone she doubted anyone would notice. She applied a mild glamour to help blur the edges and hoped for the best. She decided she would need to mention to Charlie that, while she appreciated the enthusiasm, she was not actually trying to look like a leopard. While she was already digging through her cabinets she found a bottle of anti-hangover potion and tipped it back. The taste made her grimace and she rinsed her mouth with some water to dull the bitter aftertaste. She gave herself one more appraising look and decided against doing her makeup, the bit of coverage on her neck blended well enough without anything additional.

She started the kettle and popped a couple pieces of bread into the toaster. She would get something more substantial from the mess if she had time. If not, this should hold her over until lunch. As she checked the kitchen clock she was beginning to feel butterflies in her stomach, it was getting close to a reasonable hour to drop in on Henry. She poured a second cup of tea into a to-go mug before taking one last look at herself in the hall mirror. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought back to the hallway the night before. She had to stop her thoughts as she felt a warmth spread through her, she did not have time to sort herself if she got turned on. She took a deep breath and made her way into what she hoped would be a great day on the Romanian reserve.

She breathed in the fresh mountain air as she walked briskly down the main dirt road that cut through the many buildings that comprised the largest reserve in Europe. Henry's office was on the opposite side from her cabin, closer to the dragon enclosures and the housing for the tamers. She wondered if they would have her move since she no longer needed to be quite so close to the research building. She had found it odd that they kept everyone so spread out, to begin with, for being such a large piece of land they really only had fifty permanent residents at any one time. There would be a handful of interns like herself, most staying the customary three months and moving on. She wasn't aware of anyone else who had extended as long as she had. It occurred to her that the constant turnover with interns may have contributed to the rumours about her. With so few staying on and the quick overlap from the old guard to the new, no one was really invested in figuring out which stories were true and which ones weren't. She did wonder how exactly the stories about her had started to begin with, but she had a theory it involved a turned down invitation with a cocksure older intern. She wouldn't be surprised if he had told everyone they had slept together, knowing that Hermione mainly kept to herself and by the time she'd heard the stories it would be too late to contradict anything. Many of the fake stories about the nature of her relationship with her best mates had started in much the same way.

Part of the appeal of the reserve when she'd been given options of where to spend her dragon rotation had been that it was closed off from the press. Safety regulations and general isolation of the site kept reporters off the land. Even if they had really wanted to get on for a story, they wouldn't be able to. Coming and going from the reserve was near impossible if your marker wasn't added to the wards. A lot of effort would be needed to get onto the grounds and there simply wasn't enough incentive to try. Even having a war hero like herself living there wasn't enough of a draw to risk messing with the wards and potentially ending up in a dragon enclosure. The thought of someone like Rita Skeeter ending up in a Hungarian Horntail pen when it was particularly cranky made her snicker to herself.

She tugged at her shirt and re-tied the pullover several times before working up the courage to walk the path to Henry's door when the building came into view. She took a few more deep breaths and counted to ten as she made the short jog up the path. Before she could raise her hand to knock on the door she heard a rumble of laughter inside and saw the handle begin to turn. She jumped back to get out of the way of the men exiting the building. She squeaked and nearly tripped over her feet recognizing Charlie and Henry as they stepped onto the pathway. She felt her face flush at the near collision with the handsome ginger.

"Hermione!" Charlie started, reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She tamped down the urge to pull away, the warmth and spicy smell of skin seeming to cast a spell on her.

"Hey, Charlie," she forced, trying desperately not to sound flirtatious.

"Guess I owe you a drink, Charlie! You weren't kidding that she would be here bright and early." The bear-sized man with the long brown ponytail guffawed loudly and offered her a hand.

"Good morning, I hope I'm not too early. I wanted to catch you before rounds," She gripped his hand tightly as she shook, she didn't want to appear weak. The wall of muscle that made up both men had her feeling slightly intimidated.

"No worries about that, I'm up with the sun most mornings. Charlie here said you've got a natural way with dragons, Granger. Said he was trying to talk you into staying on in Romania and joining our program. Only time I've ever gotten a recommendation out of this one. You must be something pretty special." He elbowed Charlie extricating her from under his arm and tucking her under his own. She was slightly confused by the familiarity, but didn't see anything inappropriate in the slight squeeze he gave her before releasing.

"I don't know what Charlie's told you, but I definitely would like to try my hand at this. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and I'm a quick study. You won't regret taking me on if you okay the transfer," she used all her willpower to keep her voice from shaking.

"Why don't you step into my office for a few minutes and we'll talk it through. I think we may be able to make some room for you here," he smiled at her, his green eyes crinkling as he guided her back into the cabin. She looked back over her shoulder at Charlie, who gave her a wink and wave. He mouthed a quick "relax" before strolling off in the direction of the mess.

The interior of the cabin was cleaner than she expected. She assumed that all the tamers would be as messy as she knew Charlie to be from the stories Molly told about chasing after him to clean his room growing up. It looked like Henry, at least, was fairly clean. The bits of living quarters she could see seemed fairly well organized and everything smelled like lemon cleanser. Most of the doors in the long entryway seemed to be closed or just barely cracked, she assumed it was to allow the man a modicum of privacy when he was conducting business in his quarters. He led her into his office, just off the main hallway, and offered her a seat. His walls were practically wallpapered in photographs of dragons and various tamers. She imagined some of the older photos were him in his heyday and she thought she recognized a younger Jan in a group photo. For the first time, she noted the lack of women in the photos. She'd known dragonology was a male-driven field, but she was surprised to see the photos of the medical and research staff were male-dominated as well. She hoped her gender wouldn't work against her.

"I did take the liberty of going over your file when Charlie told me about you this morning. He must be really impressed with you to come knocking at my door at sunup. He isn't exactly an early riser, Charlie." She could only nod in response, she honestly had no clue as to Charlie's sleep habits. Henry was following the trajectory of her eyes over the various photographs and smiled gently at her before settling into his chair.

"I noticed that you don't exactly need this job, Miss Granger. Minister Shacklebolt offered you any job you wanted, why would you choose this? There are plenty of positions with more prestige and less work than working for the Ministry. And with the Order of Merlin, First Class you likely don't need the paycheck. " he leaned back in his chair, flipping through a copy of her Ministry file. She pulled her eyes away from the walls and bit her lip in thought for a moment, considering the ways she could answer. She opted for honesty.

"I've never been one to rest on my laurels, sir," she started.

"You can just call me 'Henry', Hermione. I don't expect anyone here to call me 'sir' unless they're trying to collect on a bill," he teased.

"Okay, Henry, then. " She positioned herself on the chair and started in again.

"I don't want this because it pays well, I want it because it's a challenge. You're right that I could have had any job I wanted after the war. I chose to finish school and enter into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures because I've an interest in it. Even at Hogwarts, I had a dedication to the rights and well being of magical creatures. I thought about focusing on House Elves like I did as a student, but it's mostly legislation. I didn't want a desk job, I wanted to be in the field. So that's what I've been doing on my rotations- field research. It isn't enough of a challenge for me anymore, I want to be pushed harder than rehashing someone else's findings can push me," she took a breath and found the man's eyes studying her face. He nodded for her to continue. She looked him directly in the eye this time, not letting them wander like she had when she first began speaking.

"The first time they let us observe the dragons up close I knew I wanted to get closer to them. As you can see, I've exhausted all my extensions to be here. The only way I can stay here is to get into the dragonology program. I'm not interested in moving to a new rotation, I don't think anything will capture my interest as much as the dragons have. After you've been through what I've been through, paperwork and books just aren't enough," she searched his face for any sign of understanding. She hoped he realized this wasn't just a whim. He sat in silence for a few moments, not breaking eye contact. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Charlie let on that you've gotten yourself out of a fair few scrapes in your younger years and that you've survived more than they've printed about you in the papers. We were out of much of the war, being so far afield, but there are some here that were at the Battle of Hogwarts. I think you'll find most of our tamers would understand that sometimes a bit of danger teaches you more than a book..." he explained, closing her file and putting it down. He stood up and crossed to a filing cabinet, digging out a handful of forms and a stamp.

"I honestly didn't know Charlie was going to speak to you on my behalf, but I hope I can live up to whatever he's told you about me." She felt her chest tighten, it was clear now he'd made a decision before she walked in.

"When Charlie spoke to me this morning I was certain about giving you a shot, Hermione. You may not realize it, but you have a reputation for being a hard worker on this reserve. Charlie isn't one to speak highly of others unless he believes it. He's one of the best we have and if he says you've got a natural knack for this, I'm inclined to believe him. He told me he took you into Ioana's enclosure last night and that you sweet talked her into showing off for you. It's not often someone can get a dragon to fly on their first try. On the other side of things, Jan has been here as long as I have. And she quite likes you, even if she doesn't show it. It's very rare for her to allow an extension for someone who hasn't signed on to stay full time. I think she sees something in you but wasn't sure what it was. She's going to be upset with me for poaching you, but I think she'll understand. You've impressed two of the hardest to please people on this reserve and that's no easy feat." He smiled at her and she relaxed considerably.

"You'll need to get everything squared away with Jan and I don't want you dropping a load of unfinished work on her. We'll start you in the program on the fifth, that should give you about two weeks to tie up any loose ends in research and get all your paperwork to the Ministry," he finished.

"I hadn't realized Jan didn't usually extend stays for the interns. She never mentioned it. I owe her and Charlie my gratitude if they've convinced you I could do well. You won't regret this, Henry." She jumped up excitedly as he stamped and signed the appropriate papers.

"I have no doubt you'll be great at this. Not just because I trust Charlie or because you've impressed Jan, but because you've impressed me. Not many would come in here at 8 am on a Monday morning, especially after the big night out I know the research interns had last night. You prioritized being here this morning, and that says something about you." He finished up with the forms and handed them to her, crossing his arms over his chest to continue.

"Now, getting to brass tacks. It's a year-long program. If things go well, we might be able to keep you on full time at the end of this. It won't be easy, mentally or physically." She nodded at his warning and waited for him to continue, her eyes alighting on the most recent group photos of the tamers. He followed her vision and sighed heavily.

"I'm sure you've noticed the lack of non-lizard females in the dragonology program. I promise you that isn't by choice. As it is, you'll be one of three women who has ever attempted this program. Only Alana, the one in the photo, stayed on with us in a more permanent position. The other woman moved on to work in Wales. I won't lie, many of the men will try to break you on purpose, they aren't used to strong women. It's been a boys' club around here for far too long, it's about time they got their arses handed to them by a woman. I don't think you'll have any trouble going toe-to-toe with them, you aren't exactly an unknown entity around here. We've all heard the stories about you, Harry, and Ron and how big a part you played in ending the war. If they're smart, they'll realise you could be a real asset to this team. You'll have me in your corner if things get too out of line, I imagine you'll have Charlie too. Once things are settled we'll get you linked up with Alana and see how you hit it off. I imagine she'll enjoy having another woman around. We'll get you placed with a partner once you've gotten a chance to get to know some of the rest of team. Any questions?"

"Why don't women want to do this kind of work?" her brows furrowed, it didn't seem believable that only two women had ever completed the program.

"I'm not entirely sure. I imagine most of it is tradition, especially since most of the original staff were locals. We're more international now, but the reputation for being so male heavy seems to have swayed more women from applying. Witches don't generally take on such physical work in this part of the world. I've only encountered a few truly great female tamers in all my years, Hermione, and I'm hoping we can change that. Alana is one of the best workers I've ever had on the reserve, almost as good as Charlie." He sighed heavily again as his eyes drifted to a photo of Charlie and Alana next to a Hungarian Horntail enclosure.

"Maybe we can talk about this more once you've had some time to get into the swing of things. I'd like to get your insight on this," he sighed and stood to direct her to the door. All Hermione could do was nod as she clutched her paperwork to her chest. Henry may not have realized it, but he'd just thrown down a challenge to prove that she could do just as well as the men.

She practically buzzed with excitement as she made her way to the research building, too excited to stop and get food from the mess. She just needed a signature from her boss to confirm her departure, then she could send everything off to the Ministry to be filed. She squared her shoulders and ducked through the crowd of other researchers assembled around the coffee maker. Jan's office was at the end of the long building and she was hoping to make it there without being stopped. Mercifully, no one seemed to notice or care that she had arrived. She knocked and waited for the okay to enter.

"Jan?" she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Hmmm." The older woman didn't look up from the stack of notes in front of her. She had more grey in her auburn hair than Hermione remembered when she first started. She was petite, but somehow still imposing.

"Do you have a moment to sign something for me?" she stepped closer to the desk.

"Of course, Hermione, what is it?" Jan underlined something in red pen, before setting everything to the side. Her grey eyes met Hermione's with a mild look of concern. She motioned for her to take a seat in the chair opposite her desk.

"I'm ending my research rotation at the end of the month, it's the release paperwork." Hermione handed it to her, sitting on the edge of her chair.

"I had hoped you might want to stay on with us, especially after your extension. You're one of the best researchers I've had and I don't just mean the interns. If you wanted to, you could be great at this..." her eyes probed her face for a moment before deciding something and sitting back in her chair.

"I get the feeling organizing paperwork isn't exactly what you want to be doing, now is it? Have you decided where you're going from here?" refocusing on the papers, initialing and signing where needed.

"Actually, I'm staying on in Romania, just not in the research program. I've decided to focus on dragonology and take a more hands-on approach. Henry admitted me to the tamer program this morning, once I finish up here I'll get matched with a partner." She tried to keep her voice even, afraid that too much excitement might offend the woman who had, she only just learned, kept her on when she normally wouldn't have.

"Really? That's surprising." Jan set everything down and looked over her small glasses at Hermione.

"How so?" she squirmed uncomfortably and resisted the urge to chew her lip.

"They take on very few women. Lack of interest mainly, though part of it may be the 'old boys' club' mentality some of the older tamers have. I didn't think you would be open to working in that kind of environment. But, maybe that's exactly why you should do it. Alana is quite a force to be reckoned with, the two of you could be unstoppable. Really shake things up," she cocked an eyebrow at her, steepling her fingers under her chin.

"I'm used to being the only woman around. My best mates are blokes, and I've kept them in line all these years. It might be nice to get to work closely with another woman in a male-dominated field. Besides, Henry thinks I could do well here. And I got a recommendation to the program this morning from one of the tamers." She was relieved as she realised Jan wasn't angry.

"Which one was that? I didn't know you knew many of the tamers. You seem to keep mostly to yourself…" Jan trailed off.

"Charlie Weasley. We've known each other for years."

"Ah, yes, Charlie. I'd forgotten you would know him through Ron, I'm assuming there's just the one Weasley family. I've not known him to give out many recommendations over the years. He must really think you'll do well here..." her eyes probed Hermione's, making the younger witch blush.

She wondered if the older woman could tell there was more to her connection with Charlie than just being old friends. Her neck burned where she thought the older woman's eyes had spied her attempts at a coverup. After a long pause, she stood and handed the stack of papers back to Hermione.

"Well, this is done anyway. Make sure you finish up any remaining work you have with us or leave notes for whoever will have to take it over when you leave."

"I will. I'll get everything finished so no one has to pick up mid-project. Henry was very clear I wasn't to leave you in a lurch." Hermione reached over and firmly shook her now former boss's hand. She turned to leave, a smile beginning to break out across her usually serious face.

"Thank you for everything, Jan. This may not be what I want to do, but I did really enjoy my time working with you." She blushed slightly at the words as the woman waved her off. As she reached the door she turned back briefly to catch the woman's eye again.

"Oh, and Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Good luck." Jan smiled and gave her an uncharacteristic wink.

Hermione made her way to her desk more confused than she expected to be after getting what she wanted. All the winking was particularly disconcerting. She wasn't used to it, most people were so serious when speaking to her. She could understand from Charlie after the night before, but Jan had thrown her. She rubbed her neck, unconsciously removing some of the makeup there, as she slipped all her forms into an envelope and addressed it to the correct office. She signaled for one of the Tawny Owls that made up their postal network. She fed it a few treats before shrinking and attaching the large packet to its leg for the journey. As it took off through the window she exhaled heavily, there was no turning back now. She focused her attention to the large stack of papers on her desk and began to put together a game plan to get everything finished by September second to give her a full weekend before she was thrown headfirst into a new program. She glanced at the date and realized that she only had ten work days to complete everything. She was sure she could do it, but it was going to be a time crunch. She squared her shoulders again and dove in.

The day passed quicker than Hermione would have liked. She had set an overly ambitious worklist for the day and had only completed two-thirds of it. She had worked through lunch and was in desperate need of food by the time she left for the day. She sighed, chastising herself internally for not having a real breakfast before setting out for the day. No one had approached her about disappearing the night before, but she wasn't exactly surprised. It wasn't like they'd really included her for any reason besides it being their last major outing before they assumed she would be leaving. She wondered if anyone had even noticed her slipping off or if it had been expected. She did know that was the point of the evening for many of them, but it still stung a bit that no one had checked on her. She hoped that being casually acquainted with a few of the tamers and medical staff that spent their time on the opposite side of the reserve would help her socialize more. Now that she was staying on for at least a year, she wanted to have real friends who would care about her comings and goings. She wanted people to spend time with and share secrets with. It was burning her up inside that she couldn't gush to anyone about how much fun she'd had with Charlie. Her only close female friend was his sister and it seemed cruel to mention the fling to her. She hadn't seen anyone outside of the research staff, besides Charlie, in a week or more. If she was being truthful with herself, there really were only two people who would have noticed she'd been scarce on that end of things for awhile. She debated dropping in on them or waiting until the next day and just making an early night of it. She was still debating her choices as she filled a plate in the mess and made her way to her usual corner table alone.

She was tucking into a very Ron like mountain of food instead of her usual controlled portions when the sound of people settling into the bench opposite her made her jump. She was so accustomed to eating alone she thought for a moment she may have accidentally stolen someone else's table. She looked up and recognised three smiling faces.

"We heard the good news! I can't believe you didn't come find us!" Hermione locked eyes with the dark-eyed, Mariana. She couldn't help but blush at the light chastisement from the mediwitch. She was twirling a strand of raven hair around her finger and bouncing in her seat. Hermione thought the other woman could have been a model if she'd wanted to be.

"Yeah, what gives, Granger? I thought we were friends. We had to hear from this one that you were even interested in the program!" The wiry blonde seated directly opposite her prodded with mock hurt. Simon was Charlie's partner, built almost identically to the ginger. His blonde hair and lack of freckles the only difference. They had the same blue eyes that sparkled with fire and mayhem. She blushed harder under his intense eyes, her own flicking over to Charlie in embarrassment. He was watching her dressing down with a smirk on his face.

"I was just thinking about coming to find you," Hermione mumbled, she hadn't realized the other two would care so much about her staying.

"You were only thinking about coming to find us? How am I supposed to buy you a celebratory drink if you're only thinking about coming to see me?" Simon continued, stealing a chip from her plate.

"You can't possibly be serious? It's Monday, don't you have work in the morning?" she leaned back in shock. The decision to go out the night before had been bizarre enough for her. But two work nights in a row? She wasn't sure her body could take it.

"Oh, love, you're going to find that the tamers drink 'most every night. You never wondered why I always have so much anti-hangover potion on hand?" Mariana laughed.

There was something wonderfully melodic about her laugh. Hermione wondered if the woman could have some veela in her, she was so beautiful and seemingly perfect.

"I honestly didn't think on it much." Hermione shrugged as Charlie barked with laughter.

"Witch, you've got a lot of changes headed your way. We work hard so we can drink harder. There's a reason Grigore, and every other barkeep within spitting distance of the reserve knows me so well. May not have run into you at Horntails before, Granger, but we're there quite a bit." Charlie explained.

"Sometimes we stay on the reserve and build a bonfire if it's a nice night." Mariana interrupted before Hermione could respond.

"You have bonfires on the reserve? I've never seen one…" Hermione lit up, she loved sitting around a good fire. Even after all the nights in the woods during the war, she was still very fond of a good fire.

"We usually use one of the empty enclosures. Henry doesn't seem to mind so long as we put them out." Simon shrugged, continuing to eat off her plate.

"What do you say we take you out tonight and next bonfire we'll bring you along?" Mariana suggested, smacking Simon's hand away from Hermione's plate.

"That sounds lovely, but does it have to be tonight? I'm really not used to going out on work nights..." she hesitated.

"Consider this a lesson in how to be a tamer. We'll come get you in a couple hours." Charlie said with finality, making to leave her to her dinner. Simon and Mariana smiled and made their way toward the door. Hermione sighed heavily, she would have to make more of an effort to fit in now. If that meant going out Monday night, then so be it.

"Don't be too upset, pet, I promise we won't get you too trashed," Charlie whispered in her ear suddenly, she didn't realize he had come around behind her instead of leaving. She tingled everywhere at the feel of his breath.

"Might want to ask Ginny about a charm to cover these, not that I mind seeing them…" his fingers trailed lightly over the partially visible marks on her neck.

"Charlie!" She spun and smacked his bicep as he laughed and made his way out the door. She blushed furiously as her hands flew to cover the skin of her neck that still tingled from his touch.

A few hours later she found herself standing in just her knickers and bra in the middle of her bedroom. She groaned in frustration and sat on her floor. She considered putting back on what she had worn to work, but she was certain at least Mariana would change. The mediwitch had still been in her scrubs when she'd seen her earlier. She stared into her open closet doors, eyes scanning for something to pop out at her. After the third pass, her eyes lit on the pair of knee-high boots Ginny had convinced her to buy. She hadn't worn them yet, the heels were higher than she was normally comfortable in, but she did like them. She got up and picked up the boots, turning one over in her hands as she considered. Would they be a bit much?

"You should definitely wear those. Sexy as hell." She jumped at Charlie's voice. She hadn't heard him come through the floo.

"Merlin, Charlie! You can't just sneak up on people like that!" She moved to cover herself, dropping the boot to the floor. His eyes were sweeping over her body hungrily. Her skin seemed to flame anywhere his gaze settled.

"Sorry, pet, I was coming to collect you so we can go meet Simon and Mariana. I thought you'd be ready by now," he chuckled.

"Could you step out of my room so I can dress please?" she argued.

"Or, and hear me out on this, I could come in and undress you the rest of the way. We could stay here and just blow everything else off…" he trailed off, eyes going dark.

"Charlie, we are not ditching our friends the first time I go out with them," she chastised. Her voice betrayed that she wasn't entirely against the prospect of another go around with him in place of a night out. He considered a moment, eyes raking over her one last time.

"No, you're right. I'll wait by the floo." Charlie sighed and left the room she picked the boot back up and made her decision.

When she joined him in the living room she'd changed into the boots, skinny jeans, and a flowy red halter top in an approximation of an outfit she'd seen in one of the magazines Ginny had sent her. She had wiped off the makeup on her neck, deciding it wasn't worth the effort to maintain until she knew the correct charms. She'd slicked on a couple coats of mascara and some lip gloss, leaving the rest of her face bare. She hadn't wanted to make Charlie wait much longer for her. His attention was on her bookcase when she walked in, giving her a chance to look him over. He had on his work boots, a clean pair of dark jeans, and a plain black tee shirt. He looked like he'd showered since she'd seen him earlier, and his long hair was loose around his shoulders. She was tempted to run her fingers through the silky strands, he had the softest hair of any man she'd ever known.

"Ready?" she asked, tucking her wand into the little bag she'd not given up after the war. She was proud to see the ways his eyes widened slightly as he took her in. She tucked a loose curl back behind her ear, she'd left it down in the hopes of distracting from the state of her neck.

"Let's go." He smiled, stepping into the floo and calling out Horntails. She wasn't far behind.


	4. Chapter 4: GirlsGirlsBoys

**AN:** It took me ages to rewrite this. I've decided to stop fighting it and post what I have. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to let me know in the reviews what you'd like to see next! Title comes from Panic! At the Disco.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or in any way profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Updated for grammar and formatting 8/26/18**

 **Girls/Girls/Boys**

Hermione dusted the soot off as she looked around the surprisingly crowded pub to try and spot the others. Charlie wrapped an arm around her shoulders to tug her toward the bar, neither of them spotting the rest of their party. She relaxed into him, unaware that she'd been so nervous up until that moment. She couldn't help but notice how great he smelled; like warm earth and the citrusy soap Mrs. Weasley preferred. She had missed that smell and wondered if she could get someone to owl her some. She could hear the wireless flickering in and out as someone played with the dials.

"Probably trying to get the Quidditch highlights. There was a game earlier." Charlie explained, moving his arm from her shoulders to her waist as he angled them through the crowd to catch Grigore's attention.

"Charlie, Hermione! Feels like I just saw the pair of you," he greeted them with a wink.

"Have you seen Mariana or Simon tonight, Grigore?" Charlie asked.

"Not yet. Does that mean you got a spot in the program, Hermione? I knew this one would talk you into it!" he teased.

"I did accept a spot, you're stuck with me for another year," she smiled brightly. He reached across and put a hand behind her head, dropping a fatherly kiss on her forehead. She couldn't help but smile at the unexpected sign of affection.

"Proud of you. They're going to love you, no more reading alone in my pub. You'll have a constant escort now, my dear, the tamers travel in packs." Hermione blushed at the ribbing and smiled softly at the thought she wouldn't have so many nights alone anymore.

"First round is on the house tonight. I suspect Simon and Mariana will be here any minute now. I wouldn't be surprised if they're gathering as many tamers as they can get their hands on. You lot are never ones to shy from a party." He clapped Charlie on the shoulder as he busied himself setting up pints of stout, knowing it was Hermione's preferred muggle beverage.

"Charlie, they aren't inviting all the tamers, are they? None of you said anything about inviting anyone else…" Hermione whispered, feeling butterflies start in her stomach.

She was not prepared to meet new people tonight. She had assumed this would be a nice night with friends, not an introduction to all her new coworkers.

"Knowing Mariana, she'll probably try to talk Alana into joining us. She'll say no though, doesn't like to meet people for the first time when she's been drinking. She can be a bit… intense." Charlie offered, gathering the four glasses and leading her to a newly vacated booth in the back.

"What about Simon? Will he try to bring anyone?" she pressed.

"Not likely. I think he fancies you, won't want the competition. Think he's excited to have met you before the other guys, might try to get a claim on you." He smirked at her, sliding into the booth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione stopped short, staring at him in confusion.

"You already know Alana is the only other woman in the program. There's not a tonne of single ladies on the reserve overall. He'll try to get a date with you before anyone else does so they'll back off..." he took a sip of his pint, reaching over to pull her into the booth next to him.

"Does it bother you?" He followed up when she didn't respond.

"It's barbaric. I'm not property to be claimed. And even if I were, I don't really know him well, mainly just through Mariana. I assumed they were together…" she trailed off.

"Sometimes they are, sometimes they're not." Charlie shrugged.

"That doesn't make any sense..." she shook her head at him.

"I think when Mariana isn't chasing after somebody else they have a casual thing going on. They've never been particularly exclusive. It's not uncommon around here, the reserve can be very insular. There's a lot of cross-dating and repeat couplings. Many of us don't date long term unless it's someone on the reserve. Mari spends more time with the tamers than the other medical staff, as I'm sure you've noticed. Some of them aren't a fan of her lifestyle," he explained, setting his hand on her thigh and giving it a squeeze.

"Her lifestyle?" Hermione picked up one of the pints, taking a long swallow.

"She's very… liberated. I guess that would be the right word."

"You mean like a man. She does what you do, but she gets judged for it." Hermione's nostrils flared in anger.

"That's more or less the shape of it. Most of the medical team is pretty traditional in their views of sex and relationships. Mari is much more..."

"I can't wait to hear the end of this. Tell me, Charles, what am I?" Mariana bounced into the booth across from them with a devious grin.

"I was going to say 'nonconventional'." He grinned back, reaching for his pint instead of continuing.

"What he's skirting around here, Hermione is that I'm not afraid of sex. I like trying new things and not settling down with one partner. I'm going to enjoy myself in bed while I can, not use my body as a weapon to trap a husband like so many of my coworkers have. A lot of the medical staff is dreadfully old-fashioned. Even the ones closer to my age would rather hold out until they've got a ring." She waggled her empty fingers at her with a level of seriousness Hermione had never seen from her outside the medical building.

"Why exactly are we discussing Mariana's sleeping habits? Or lack thereof..." Simon teased, settling in next to Mariana.

"I can't believe how stupid people are about these things. We're in a new millennium, but you'd never know it." Hermione grumbled into her beer.

"So, what's the deal with trying to cover these? Wanted to ask you earlier, but didn't get a chance." Mariana reached across the table and trailed her fingertips over the lovebites Charlie had left behind. She sputtered into her glass in response. Charlie and Simon burst into laughter as her cheeks flamed brighter.

"I don't know the charm for it and kept wiping the concealer off," she choked out.

"I can teach you. It's not a big deal though. You should see my old badge photo sometime. Looks like I got punched in the neck the mark is so big." Mariana winked at her. Hermione's cheeks burned brighter as the others laughed at the memory.

"Besides, we need more liberated women around here. Show them marks off, 'Mione!" Mariana laughed heartily, settling into her seat. Hermione touched her neck self consciously, the string of her halter top was the only bit of cover she'd allowed herself.

"Is it safe to say then that the rumours about the deviant bed hopping Granger are complete bollocks?" Simon asked much more casually than Hermione would have preferred from someone that was talking about her sex life.

"Simon, don't be a prat. Obviously, it's not true. You really think she'd be sleeping her way through the reserve and not one tamer would know about it?" Charlie rolled his eyes at the other man.

"Hey, maybe she's only into interns. I don't know these things, only what I hear!"

"Who are you hearing these from, anyway?" Mariana asked.

"Todd mostly, his brother was here a couple months ago. Moved on to his next rotation, but keeps in touch with some of the other staff."

"Todd who?" Hermione narrowed her eyes, she didn't think many of the other interns had older brothers with the name.

"Halloran," he sipped his drink in answer.

"Oh, that rat! I had a feeling…" Hermione scoffed.

"Sorry, Hermione! I didn't mean to upset you." Simon said, looking embarrassed. Hermione seethed for a few moments before nodding at him and taking a deep breath.

"It's okay. It's not the first time this has come up the past few days. Owen Halloran asked me to dinner when I first got here and I turned him down. He didn't want to take 'no' for an answer and kept pestering me. Eventually, I hexed him so he'd leave me alone. The rumours started the next day and the gossip rags started appearing in the mess." Hermione sighed heavily and took a long pull of her drink.

"For the record, I'm actually incredibly boring. I haven't had a boyfriend since I've been here and haven't been on a single date. I don't go clubbing through town or trolling muggle discos for anonymous sex when I stay out late at night. I don't get on with most of my department and had never been out with them until last night, where they promptly ditched me and I was left drinking alone in the back of a club. I never bothered with the rumours, never really have. I must admit the fantasy version of me is much more exciting. I used to be against the concept of casual sex." Hermione felt like she was rambling and clapped her jaw shut, realising she'd revealed more than intended.

"Used to be? There's a story in that." Mariana put one long finger to her lips, deep in thought.

"Bloke from last night? Unless it was a lady? I don't want to assume." Simon added on. Hermione swallowed nervously but said nothing.

"You going to tell us who it was?" Mariana pressed with a grin.

"I haven't really spoken to them about how public things are going to be…" she actively had to keep from peeking over at Charlie.

"Not a one-time thing then?" Simon locked eyes with her, something like disappointment ghosting beneath the surface. She shook her head and took another long swallow from her glass.

"Let her have her fun and secrets. If she wants to say something, she will. Otherwise, it's her business." Charlie interrupted with a chuckle.

"I just don't understand how there can be so many rumours about one witch. I get that you and your friends had some fame in England, but that feels so long ago. Why do people still care so much about what you do and who you're with?" Simon asked with a sad shake of his head.

"I'm the only one who isn't settled. And they keep putting me on those 'Most Eligible Witches' lists. The rumours always pick up steam after that. It's infuriating." Hermione scowled, finishing her pint in annoyance.

They sat in awkward silence for a few moments. Hermione felt Charlie's thumb rub her leg comfortingly. She felt herself begin to relax again and ventured eye contact with the rest of the group, smiling apologetically.

"Are any of them true though? Or is all of it bollocks? I've heard some interesting ones…" Mariana wondered aloud.

"Which ones have you heard?" Hermione asked, pulling Charlie's unfinished pint in front of her. She didn't see his raised eyebrow at her boldness.

"Well… were you really engaged to Viktor Krum before you came to Romania?" she started. Hermione giggled and vigorously shook her curls.

"No, we dated for a few months when I was still in school. We've stayed in touch and he came to visit me before I left. He was showing me earrings he'd bought for his mother, there wasn't even a ring in the photo that the Daily Prophet ran."

"Nothing happened with him then?" Simon pressed.

"We didn't sleep together if that's what you mean. Just some heavy petting. He's a wonderful kisser…" she trailed off in memory.

"Just snogging though? Sounds like a missed opportunity. He's rather handsome." Mariana sighed.

"Yes, but overly formal in most things. I would have been open to a date or two, but he wanted to court. And that was the end of that." She finished Charlie's pint and started to scan for Grigore for a refill.

"Why?" Simon asked in confusion.

"Why what?" she managed to catch the barkeeps attention and signaled for another pitcher.

"Why was that the end of it?" he drained his own glass and looked at her with curiosity.

"Oh, well… I wasn't interested in settling down then. If you court someone it usually means marriage after. Wasn't in my plans then and isn't now." Simon's eyes took on a darker blue as something sparkled in their depths. Hermione didn't have a chance to interpret what it could mean as a fresh pitcher was dropped on the table.

"You kids be nice to my Hermione. She never causes any trouble in here, one of my favourite regulars!" Grigore refilled their glasses, winking at her again.

"Wait, so is this where you are late nights when the research nutters think you're off shagging your way through Romania?" Mariana laughed.

"This booth actually, usually with a book or two. Sometimes I return owls or just sit and listen to the locals perform." Hermione giggled, taking a long swallow of her new pint.

"Appears her regular nights are the opposite of ours." Charlie supplied.

"We should fix that. Can't have you here by your lonesome, Granger." Simon lifted his glass to her with a wink of his own.

"Why does that sound like trouble?" Hermione turned to Charlie and he smiled at her, the ever-present mischief there reminding her of Fred and George. She fleetingly wondered if they'd gotten their rambunctious streak from their second oldest brother.

The time passed quickly, mostly further debunking of the various stories they'd heard about her. Hermione was baffled by the sheer number of ridiculous lies told about her that she'd never heard before. She did note the continual reappearance of a certain former employee that cemented in her mind that he had been the cause of this. She decided to hex Owen if she ever saw him again. She wondered how hard it would be to look him up and anonymously send him some of the more nefarious products from Fred and George's shop. Would Todd give her the address? She was in the middle of deciding exactly which items when Mariana suddenly waved a hand in her face.

"Oh! Sorry, bit distracted there..." she grimaced at her own rudeness and fiddled with the rim of her pint, she was feeling more and more relaxed the more she consumed.

"Thought we may have lost you there for a moment," the other woman smiled at her. Hermione couldn't help but take in how beautiful she truly was.

"Mari, is it true you turned down being a model to come here?" The words tumbled out before she could stop them.

"I see you've heard some rumours too." She raised her eyebrows at Hermione, leaning back in her seat before answering.

"Yes, I did. I wanted to go to England and learn to be a healer like my mum had done. My dad always thought I should stay in Romania and settle down with a rich husband. Thought I'd have a better chance of snagging a good one if I used my looks to my benefit. Wasn't what I wanted though," she explained.

"You didn't stay in England though. Ended up with us much the same way Hermione did." Simon added.

"What do you mean?" Hermione redirected her attention, noticing how the shades of blonde in his hair changed in the diminishing post-sunset light streaming through the windows overhead.

"She was doing a medical rotation here and just never left. She's particularly skilled with potions and treating burns. We need a fair amount of both here. Lucked out when she decided she wanted to stay." Charlie finished.

"Helps that I can speak Romanian too. I translate for Henry sometimes when it requires a firmer grasp of the language. He's conversational, but he can't make heads or tails of the legal forms sometimes. Won't hire translators or use a translation charm. Honestly, I think he just likes having me around." She rolled her eyes.

"I know it was founded by a Brit, but you'd really think there would be more local Romanians working on the reserve or at least more multilingual staff." Hermione pondered.

"There used to be more, but we're not exactly in a heavily populated area. And with more educational opportunities than there were back then, many of the kids leave and don't come back. We're a tough draw out in the middle of nowhere like this. No one ends up here by accident or because it was the easiest place to go. You'll see." Mariana explained, looking to Charlie and Simon for confirmation.

"How did you end up here, Charlie? Your brothers always say they thought you'd play professional Quidditch. Bill says you had a tryout for the national team and everything." Hermione spun toward him.

"I did, but I never went. I love Quidditch, but I've always loved creatures more. I did my initial training in Wales and applied for a transfer here when I thought I was ready for a real challenge. When I found out I'd gotten the placement, there was no question. I like a challenge and a bit of danger. Dragons are the best creature for it and where better than Romania?" he shrugged. Hermione nodded, she could see more hiding in his eyes but didn't want to press the issue.

"This git is much more interesting, followed a girl." Charlie nodded toward Simon, making him sputter into his drink.

"You followed a girl to a dragon reserve?" Hermione broke into a wide grin.

"Thought it was some big romantic gesture. Turns out she wasn't even in the program, but her long-distance boyfriend was. Not my finest hour..." he answered with a frown.

"What happened when you found out, why did you decide to stay?" Hermione asked, seeing the old hurt in his eyes.

"Simon, bless him, kept his field rotation and finished it. Wasn't the best applicant of that year, but Henry liked the dedication. Only one he kept from the bunch, the other bloke never even finished." Mariana explained, gently patting his arm.

"She broke my heart, but I got the better end of the deal. Got to shove it in her face when I finished and he didn't," he shrugged, his colour normalising.

"Got some friends out of it too." Charlie tilted his glass toward him in support.

"Thank Merlin for that." Simon smiled and clinked glasses with him.

"How did you end up in Romania, I know they gave you options. War hero and all…" Simon asked Hermione. She drained yet another glass before answering.

"I didn't want the easy route, planned on finishing my entire creature rotation before I chose what I wanted to work with. First time they let me close to a dragon I knew research wasn't going to cut it anymore, I wanted to get my hands dirty."

"She's a natural too. Took her into Ioana's pen and she sweet talked her into flying. Never seen her take to a human so quick." Charlie piped in, giving her thigh another squeeze.

"You took her into a dragon enclosure? I'm sure Henry loved that." Mariana chuckled.

"Charlie can do no wrong, Mari, or have you forgotten? Golden boy here is Henry's favourite." Simon teased.

"Just because I've got more skill than you…" Charlie raised his eyebrows in challenge.

"Not all of us are born with the Weasley touch." Simon scoffed.

"That's enough, boys, I'm not listening to this argument again. We're supposed to be celebrating, right?" Mariana rolled her eyes.

"Yes, that we are. The point I was trying to make is 'Mione has a knack for this." Charlie looked at Hermione with pride and she felt her spine tingle in response.

"Still doesn't explain how you ended up in Romania, to begin with. You could have done the research internship anywhere, we're no more difficult than anywhere else." Simon questioned.

"There's a couple reasons for that. Mainly, the security here is the best of any reserve. Keeps reporters out that aren't supposed to be here. Let's me have my privacy," she explained.

"What's the other reason?" Mariana asked.

"Well… I wasn't sure I was going to apply for the position, but last night..." Hermione started, sneaking a glance at Charlie. She wasn't sure she could admit that sleeping with Charlie had played into her decision.

"That is… last night was pretty incredible for me. The dragon and… other things. Felt like the start of a new life," she forced out.

"You stayed in Romania because of last night? And not just because of Ioana? Must have been pretty amazing..." Charlie's voice was even, much more measured than usual. She nodded slowly, avoiding eye contact. His hand twitched on her, but he left it.

"I need to use the loo, I'll be right back." Hermione flew from her seat and away from their confused faces.

She ducked into the ladies room and splashed water on her face. She hadn't meant to admit that. Hadn't even realized she felt that way about things. She pat her skin dry with a paper towel and fiddled with her hair, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat. How much had she had to drink already? Clearly enough to drown out the filter between her thoughts and actions. Mariana appeared over her shoulder, straightening the top of the little black dress she'd worn.

"You okay, Hermione?" she asked cautiously, making eye contact in the mirror.

"I'm fine." She lied.

"It was Charlie wasn't it?" she kept her voice low as if she were speaking to a cornered animal.

"What do you mean?" Hermione's fingers unconsciously went to her neck.

"You slept with Charlie last night. It wasn't just Ioana that made you want to stay, it was Charlie," she said matter of factly. Hermione turned to face the other woman, her stomach knotted with nerves.

"Do you think I scared him? I don't want him to think I'm staying just because of him," she whispered.

"You'd have to talk to him about that, but I doubt it. If anything you'll have further inflated his ego. Just… I know you've known Charlie a long time, but you should know…" Mariana struggled to find the right words. She took a deep breath, deciding.

"You should know Charlie is shite at relationships. I know you said you don't want one right now, but you should still be aware. Char's barely had anything beyond a casual coupling since he's been here. If sex is all you want, he's your man. If you think you even might want something more you shouldn't play with that particular dragon tamer."

"Trust me, Mari, I know. I lived with his family for a while. His mum likes to tell people Charlie's 'bad at love' and that's why he can't settle down. Never occurred to her he may not want to. She thinks it's just because he's bad at commitment." Hermione shrugged.

"You're okay with that? I know you don't have a lot of experience with this and you're jumping in the deep end on your first time out." Mariana combed her fingers through Hermione's hair, arranging it around her face.

"You're right, but at least I knew going into it not to expect anything from him. That has to make it easier, knowing ahead of time that it would have to be a casual thing?" Hermione asked.

"Could be. No way to really know until you try..." she shrugged.

"You think you can handle going back there? I'm sure they've come up with something ridiculous for us to do for the rest of the night. If we leave them too long they'll come up with something truly dangerous." Mariana smiled and took her hand. The two strolled back to the table together, ignoring the confused looks on the tamers' faces.

Hermione slid back in next to Charlie, picking her glass up and finding it empty. She caught his eye and he winked, any awkwardness forgotten. He grabbed her arm and pulled it back down before she could flag for another pitcher, seeing the one on the table was now empty. She quirked an eyebrow, confused.

"We thought we'd go back to mine and have some fun. Maybe switch to something a little stronger." Simon explained, standing from the booth.

"We still have to pay though…" Hermione trailed off as Simon pulled her up and toward the door.

"I already took care of it, pet," Charlie whispered in her ear as he followed behind. Her skin prickled where his lips brushed her ear.

"Git." she sputtered, whacking his departing frame lightly. He'd tricked her out of paying again.

* * *

"Right, so, Hermione, truth or dare?" Mariana challenged, her chocolate eyes sparkling in the dim light of Simon's cabin. They'd arranged themselves around his coffee table on the floor, several empty bottles of beer littering its once clean surface. Hermione was feeling less drunk after nursing her one bottle for nearly an hour. She assumed her nerves had amplified the swimming in her head in the pub, it was all but gone now.

"Oh, are we playing a game then?" Hermione angled herself to better see the other woman, Charlie shifted with her, his hand landing millimetres from her own.

"Mariana…" Simon cautioned with a laugh. He'd not taken his eyes off Hermione in several minutes. Every time she acknowledged him the hunger in his eyes made her uncomfortable.

"Oh stop. It's all in good fun. We're all adults and don't have to do anything we don't want to." Mariana swatted at Simon and looked to Charlie for backup.

"A bit of fun between friends is nothing like the hazing she'll get from the others. Remember when we used to get the new kids spectacularly drunk and toss them in with the juvenile dragons to see how they fared? This is nothing." Charlie laughed.

"I'll thank you not to do that anymore. We get plenty of actual work injuries to patch up without your hazing adding to the chaos." Mariana shook her finger in Charlie's face.

"What Mariana hasn't told you, Hermione is that the questions and dares will inevitably end up dirtier than any game you would have played back at Hogwarts. She may look innocent, but this one is the devil when it comes to truth or dare." Simon explained, his grin downright evil.

"Any chance we can switch to something stronger first? If I'm going to embarrass myself I don't want to remember most of it." Hermione sighed and locked eyes with Mariana.

"I think we can arrange that," Simon responded with a chuckle, making his way to the kitchen and returning with a half-empty bottle of something golden.

"Right then, enough scaring the new kid, let's toast!" Charlie conjured shot glasses as Simon filled them.

"What shall we toast to, Hermione? It's your night after all." Mariana watched her intently.

"Tasting fire," she answered after several moments to consider.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon asked, looking from her to Charlie for answers.

"Charlie put it in a letter to his sister, Ginny, once that 'working with dragons is like tasting fire'. Someday soon I hope to learn what that really means." She answered, feeling Charlie's hand running slowly up and down her back.

"Well okay then, to tasting fire!" Charlie bellowed after a moment's silence. As they all knocked back the golden liquid it hit Hermione that this was tequila. She was going to have one hell of a night and one hell of a hangover.

Charlie threw his arm along the edge of the couch and slid himself closer to Hermione after they'd set the empty glasses on the table. She thought she saw Simon react to the move, but she couldn't be sure. She idly wondered if Charlie was marking his territory in some unspoken way, staking a claim before the blonde could. Even though he'd been the one to bring up Simon's interest, Hermione couldn't help but feel that the way he'd made the comment earlier was more calculated than casual.

"Who goes first?" Hermione piped up after a moment of silence around the table. She could feel the tequila mixing with the alcohol already in her system.

"We'll spin for it. Since I've got seniority, I'll go first." Charlie leaned forward to spin one of the empty bottles.

"Mari, truth or dare?" Charlie asked.

"Choices?" she asked, sipping at the last of her stout before refilling her shot.

"Where is the most dangerous place you've had sex? Or, you have to mail your knickers to your last one night stand." Charlie smirked at her.

"Well, I'm not wearing any knickers so I guess I'll have to go with truth." Hermione's eyebrows shot up at the admission. She had wondered how she'd managed to pour herself into such a tight dress without visible lines. She had guessed some kind of charm and was going to ask about it, clearly, this was not the case. She saw Simon do a double take out of the corner of her eye. Charlie seemed completely unfazed.

"Back of an Antipodean Opaleye," she answered. Both Simon and Charlie launched to their knees in shock.

"Who was it?" they demanded simultaneously.

"That wasn't part of the question! And I'm not telling you just so you can go skin the poor fool..." she huffed.

"Why would they do that?" Hermione asked, vaguely still wondering how you could manage such a stunt on dragon back.

"You probably already know it's dangerous to be around a dragon when it's in heat, right? Well, our hormones can set them off sometimes too. You don't actually want to be in a dragon pen when you're getting amorous, could end up with someone getting seriously injured or killed." She giggled and took her shot, pouring a third and a second for Hermione.

"And you're a healer to boot! You get on us for stupid games in the pen, but you climbed right up on a dragon to get your rocks off." Simon glared at her.

"It wasn't like that. We were on the dragon before that. It just sort of happened." She shrugged.

"Why were you on a dragon at all if you weren't meant to be in there?" Hermione wondered out loud, grimacing when she saw Mariana wince at the question.

"Yeah, Mari, why were you in with a dragon at all?" Charlie pressed.

"You aren't the only prats who let me see the beasts up close. Don't pretend like you've never taken a woman inside a pen to try and impress her." Mariana scoffed.

"Younger tamer then, Charlie. The older ones know better than to let Mari talk them into a pen. We'll figure it out." Simon relaxed slightly and relaxed back into his original seat. Mariana rolled her eyes. Mariana stuck her tongue out at him and spun the bottle.

"Hermione, truth or dare? You either have to give up the name of whoever gave you those wonderful love bites or do a body shot." Hermione squirmed in response, Charlie's hand burning against her leg still. Mariana already knew who they were from, why did she want Simon to know?

"Who do I have to do the shot off of?" she asked shyly.

"Who do you want to do it off of? Or would you rather someone did one off you?" she teased back. She saw Charlie and Simon both sit a little straighter at the prospect.

"You can do it off me if you want." Charlie offered, his voice more casual than she would have expected. Hermione nodded but avoided eye contact. Mariana climbed over Simon, totally unnecessarily, and made her way to the kitchen.

When she returned she was carrying a salt shaker and pieces of lime. Hermione bit her lip in anticipation, she wasn't clear how to do a body shot off of a man. She'd seen the twins instigate body shots at a party once, but she hadn't participated. She'd still been with Ron then and while the thought intrigued her, he wouldn't have allowed her to put herself on display like that. It had never occurred to her to try and take one off of him.

"Right of passage, love, don't fret. You'll learn to do them easily enough." Mariana explained.

"Somebody on the reserve likes to instigate them. Hasn't gotten over her wild streak yet." Simon stage whispered behind his hand to her.

"How does this work?" Hermione's eyes darted around the room, avoiding the temptation to openly stare at Charlie. He had taken off his shirt and laid himself across the now clear coffee table.

"Come here, it's easy. Promise." Mariana pulled Hermione around to her side of the table. She popped a wedge of lime in Charlie's mouth with a wink.

"First, you'll need to lick him here so we can put the salt on…" she traced a line where Charlie's neck met his shoulder. Hermione couldn't help but notice the faint mark she'd left there the night before. Her cheeks burned red as she did as instructed and Mariana sprinkled salt onto the skin. Mariana took the tequila bottle and poured some into the dip of muscle around his belly button.

"Now, you drink that, lick this, and bite that." Mariana pointed from the tequila, to the salt, and to the lime. Charlie waggled his eyebrows at her, making her choke on her own air.

"Go on, Hermione, it's not that bad. We've all done a shot off Charlie. Stupid git always volunteers." Simon encouraged. She nodded in response, moving her hair out of the way and going for it.

As she attempted to lap up the alcohol she realised this was the second night in a row she'd had her tongue on Charlie's body. The thought sent a zing to her knickers as she moved to his neck and licked up the salt. She took the lime from his mouth and sat back on her heels, body feeling flushed. When she looked back to Charlie she couldn't help but notice the beginning of a tent at the front of his jeans as he pulled his shirt back on.

"Well done, you. Not bad for your first time!" Mariana clapped her on the back as Hermione deposited the lime rind into an empty beer bottle.

"I'd say you handled that better than most." Simon chuckled.

"Seemed pretty perfect from my end." Charlie teased. Hermione reached over and whacked his arm, cheeks flaming again.

"My turn," she announced once everyone had settled back and spun.

"Mari looks like it's you again." Hermione giggled.

"No ask backs! That means everybody else does a dare I choose!" she crowed in response.

"I don't think I know that rule…"

"That's because she made it up." Charlie laughed.

"Hey now, house rules!" she justified.

"It's not your house," Simon grumbled.

"We sort of just let her set the rules, not worth the argument," Charlie whispered to Hermione.

"Hey! You know my dares are always fun. When have I ever made either of you do something you really hated?" Mariana had her hands on her hips in a huff. Neither man could think of anything and shrugged in defeat.

"Everyone has to lose an item of clothing. You can pick which one, but off it comes for the rest of the night!" she poured new shots for everyone and passed them around. Hermione took hers quicker than she normally would have, pouring herself another to follow it.

"Woah there, Granger…" Simon took the bottle from her before she could pour another.

"If I'm taking something off I at least want to say I was drunk while I did it," she huffed. She got a chuckle from the group and couldn't help but relax slightly at the lack of judgment.

She banished her jeans back to her own cabin, deciding that it would be easier to lengthen her top for the walk back than it would be to conjure a shirt. Charlie and Simon had both removed their shirts, Hermione couldn't help but ogle both of the well-built men. Mariana was snickering to herself, bordering her alcohol limit for the night.

"Whose turn?" Hermione asked, trying to hide her legs under the table.

"Simon hasn't gone yet." Charlie offered. Simon spun and Hermione held her breath, he was looking at her a little too intensely for her comfort. The bottle landed on Charlie and she exhaled, unaware that she'd been holding her breath.

"How many people have you slept with?" he was still watching her closely, even though the question wasn't meant for her.

"What's the dare if I don't want to answer?" Charlie piped up. Simon broke his stare and directed his attention to the other tamer.

"You have to give a love bite to someone at the table that you never have before..." He crossed his arms and leaned back. She felt Charlie's eyes on her and turned to meet his gaze for a moment. She saw Mariana shift uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye before anyone could answer the pretty brunette was heaving onto the living room carpet.

"Mari!" Hermione lunged for the other woman, catching her hair and pulling it out of the line of fire.

"I think that means the party's over, mate." Charlie stood up and pulled his shirt back on, crossing to the kitchen for a wet rag.

* * *

"She always thinks she can drink much more than she can," Charlie explained after they'd settled Mariana into Simon's guest room with the correct potions and something clean to sleep in.

"Does she always get sick?" she whispered, concern evident in her voice.

"No, I don't think she ate enough before we started. She gets pretty loose, but not usually like this. She'll be alright here for the night." Charlie sighed, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

"Thanks for the sobering potion, I'm not sure I've got anything left for a hangover at mine," Hermione whispered as they left Simon's, the other tamer fretting over his sometimes girlfriend. The warm breeze felt good on her legs as they stood there, charming the top into a dress had been a good decision.

"Come back to mine?" Charlie whispered in her ear, so softly she almost missed it. She could only nod in response.

His cabin wasn't far from Simon's, situated slightly closer to the center of everything. She was surprised at how neat and clean everything was as he gave her a quick tour of things. It was similar to hers, but with the same spare bedroom Simon had. She wondered if that was a perk of tamers' quarters or if it was a reflection of their seniority.

"I don't know how I've managed to never have you over here, mum would be really disappointed in me." Charlie sighed with a small smile.

"Don't talk about your mum, Charlie." Hermione surprised him by bringing her lips to his as they got to his bedroom door. She felt him smirk against her and she swatted his chest in reprimand.

His arms circled her waist, pulling her slowly closer to him as he deepened the kiss. He lifted her suddenly, wrapping her legs around himself as he carried her to the bed and slowly backed her to the mattress. She groaned as he massaged her breasts and peppered her jaw with kisses.

"No more marks, please. My neck is already too sore..." she pleaded as he ran his tongue across the blemished skin.

"What if I put them somewhere else?" his voice was thick with lust as he pulled her dress over her head.

"Where else would you put them?" Hermione gasped as his fingers brushed the inside of her thigh. She arched into the touch, causing him to chuckle.

"Here for one." She could hear the smirk in his voice, her eyes unfocused with need.

"Patience, pet. Tell me what you want." She groaned in response, reaching to pull his mouth back to hers.

"I'm no good with… that kind of talk," she mumbled.

"We'll take it slow. I'm still learning your body…" he leaned in to kiss her again.

His fingers skimmed over her exposed skin as his tongue explored her mouth, occasionally nipping at her lower lip. Her skin tingled with the barest of touches, every new exploration sparking a new flame at her core. She could hear her panting getting louder as he left her mouth and made his way achingly slow across her collarbone, fingers pausing at the waistband of her knickers in their downward journey. He kissed over the edge of her bra, shaking his head when she made to remove it. His fingers ghosted over the damp fabric between her legs, making her shiver.

"Charlie…" she trailed off at the zing.

"Tell me what you want…" he mumbled against her skin. She bit her lip in response, saying nothing.

He kissed down her stomach and across her hip bones before taking her waistband in his teeth and slowly pulling them down her legs. She leaned on her elbows and watched in awe as he removed them, the act one of the sexiest she'd ever encountered. Her head tipped back in anticipation when he gently opened her legs and situated himself between them. Her breath caught as he nibbled and sucked the flesh, certain to leave the marks he had promised. He was so close to her center, but so far. She collapsed back onto the bed and grabbed her breasts, tweaking her nipples through the fabric.

"Stop teasing..." she panted as he blew on her heated sex, his hands resting on her thighs instead of touching her where she most wanted him to.

"Tell me what you want." His voice was low, but insistent through the darkness.

"I can't..." she stuttered.

"Tell me what you want, Hermione," he repeated, she could feel the vibration of the words against her thigh.

"Please," she begged, unsure of how to ask for what she wanted. He was completely still, waiting for direction. He kissed along the seam of her right leg instead, frustratingly close to where she wanted him. He moved to the other side and started again as she clutched the blankets in anticipation.

"Tell me," he mumbled into her skin again.

"Lick me," she whispered, trying to tamp down the embarrassment she felt at the words. Seconds after the words left her mouth she felt him run his tongue through her folds. She moaned loudly, bucking her hips. He brought his thumb to her clit and gently rubbed as he continued to lap. Her legs began to tremble as he slowly brought her to the edge. Every time she felt she was about to fall over the precipice he stopped and kissed her thighs again, letting the pleasure ebb and flow.

"Why are you being so mean?" she groaned as he stopped short yet again.

"Am I being mean?" he laughed mischievously, plunging a finger into her and searching out the spot he knew would be there. She called out his name as he added a second finger, the pressure building quicker than it had before.

"Mean would be if I stopped now…" he trailed off.

"Don't stop…" her breathing was ragged now, her entire body shaking with the need for release.

"Cum for me, Hermione," he growled, his mouth attacking her swollen nub as his fingers worked furiously. She screamed as she came harder than she ever had before. She saw stars behind her eyelids as she shuddered. Before she could breathe again he'd thrust inside her. She didn't know when he'd gotten out of his clothes and she didn't care.

"Charlie!" she screamed his name as he prolonged her orgasm. As one wave completed, another started. Her center contracting around him over and over again. He groaned and slammed into her harder and harder, trying to keep rhythm with her completion. He exploded into her not long after, a string of profanity mixed with his heavy breathing. He collapsed next to her, pulling her small frame against his larger one.

"You need to learn to ask for what you want," he panted into her ear. All she could do was nod, reaching around to undo her bra, feeling silly in her near nakedness.

"Let me..." he unhooked it and gently kissed her shoulder, sending a shiver through her spent form. He wrapped his arms around her as their breathing normalized.

"Charlie?" she whispered several minutes later.

"Yeah?" his voice sleepy.

"Mariana knows about last night. She guessed it," she admitted.

"She's good at reading things. Did she warn you not to date me?" he chuckled into her hair.

"How did you know?" she rolled to face him.

"She likes you and thinks I'm shite at relationships. Doesn't want you hurt." Hermione pondered that for a moment, her face contemplative.

"You know, 'Mione, you don't owe me anything. If you're having second thoughts we don't have to do this again." He studied her face, his voice gentle.

"It's not that. I don't understand the rules of whatever this is. I know it's sex with no strings, but what happens if I meet someone else? If you do? If one of us wants to stop?" Anxiety laced her tone.

"I don't do well with rules, 'Mione. Bit of a Weasley trait. But, honesty is the best policy with these things. If it gets to be too much or you don't want this anymore, we'll talk about it. This doesn't have to be hard." He shrugged and reached over to tuck a curl behind her ear.

"Okay." She nodded.

"Do you want to stay? Or his cuddling too far past sex?" He asked.

"Are you trying to say you want to cuddle with me, Charlie?" She smirked at him.

"I like to bask in the afterglow. Hard to do that if you leave," he joked.

"In that case…" she rolled over and snuggled closer to him.

"I have to be up at dawn, you want me to set a second alarm for you?" he asked with a yawn.

"No, I'll leave when you do," She yawned back before drifting off in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5: Walk of Shame

**A/N:** You are all so amazingly patient! This is several weeks later than I wanted to get it out, but I kept waffling on where to cut this one down as it just kept getting longer... The good news is cutting it short as I've done means the next installment will be up that much sooner! Chapter title comes from P!nk.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or make money off of Harry Potter or any properties related to it.

 **Updated for formatting and grammar 8/26/17**

 **Walk of Shame**

Hermione woke to the gentle sensation of lips running across her shoulder. She smiled as she rolled over to face Charlie, letting him take her face in hand and guide her lips in a lazy dance. She could barely open her eyes when he pulled away. She groaned at the loss and heard him chuckle lightly to himself.

"I could get used to mornings like this," he mumbled into her hair as he rolled her onto her back and climbed over her, pinning her hands over her head in the process.

"What's that supposed to mean?" her voice was still thick with sleep and a smirk played on her lips.

"You, naked, in my sheets. Not so sure I want to go to work now..." he trailed off. He kissed her neck, running his tongue softly over the skin beneath her ear.

"Charlie, you have to go to work. Doesn't matter how naked and in your sheets I am," she started to laugh, the feel of his hips colliding with hers turning it into a moan.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to go to work with this," he pushed against her slightly, making his morning wood more apparent.

"Make it quick, I don't want you to be late," she conceded. He cocked an eyebrow at her and moved one hand down to her sex, chuckling at the wetness he found there.

"And here I thought I was the insatiable one. You're just as wet now as you were last night. Can't get enough of me, Granger?" A proud grin broke across his face.

"I don't think we have time for your ego right now if you want to be to work on time, Weasley," she chastised before bucking her hips toward his. He groaned but didn't argue. Their coupling was quick this time, the sole focus to put them both over the edge as quickly as possible. Charlie reached his climax, calling her name into the stillness of the morning.

He rolled onto his back next to her, panting with a satisfied grin on his face. She squirmed somewhat uncomfortably next to him, still wound up. He turned to face her, propping himself up on his elbow.

"You didn't finish?" he asked, guiltily.

"No, but you've got to get going or you'll be late," she shrugged.

"Bugger that, love. I'm not leaving here until you've screamed my name. Charlie Weasley does not leave a witch wanting," he growled, sliding closer and moving a hand between her legs. She moaned as he made contact with her clitoris.

"Love the way you moan, pet," he whispered in her ear.

"How's that?" she panted.

"No restraint. Primal. You're loud and you don't care. You have no idea how sexy that is," he explained, his pace quickening.

Her breath caught as she felt the coil tighten within her. He pinched her swollen nub, the calluses on his fingers rubbing roughly against the sensitive flesh. The sudden change from soft to rough sent her over the edge, calling his name. He smiled the biggest Cheshire cat grin she'd ever seen.

"I'm not that loud..." she panted at him as he rolled out of bed and began to dress.

"Don't be embarrassed by it, pet. I love a loud woman," he winked at her.

"Shut up, Charlie." She rolled herself out of the sheets, beginning to pull her own clothing back on. He laughed and tossed her the shirt still charmed to serve as a dress.

"Where are my boots? I don't even remember taking them off…" she looked around the floor, not seeing them or her socks.

"Aw. Well…" he looked guilty suddenly.

"What did you do?"

"They should be back at your place. I hope. I wasn't exactly specific when I banished them last night," he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck with a wince.

"If they aren't there you can explain to your sister what happened to them. Last night is the only time I've worn them, you know," she chastised.

"Sorry, love. I really do have to get going," he crossed and planted a kiss on the top of her head before twisting away. She shook her head with a small grumble before twisting herself home.

* * *

Several hours and a Pepper-up potion later found Hermione back at her desk in research. She had found her boots and decided to give them another shot. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be wearing heels anymore after this week. She didn't think they'd be conducive to the new work she would be doing. She sighed and squirmed in her seat, trying to get comfortable. She was sore after several nights in a row with Charlie, totally unaccustomed to such frequent attention to the lower parts of her anatomy. She idly wondered if the twins' bruise paste would work on love bites. The ones on her neck weren't so sensitive anymore, but her jeans rubbed uncomfortably against the ones he'd left on her thighs. Charlie seemed to have a fondness for leaving marks anywhere he could, she would need a way to remedy that so long as they were sleeping together. She tried to keep herself focused on the task at hand, but the constant reminder of the night before anytime she moved made her smack her hands on the desk in frustration.

After suffering through the discomfort for several hours she could take no more and clocked out for an early lunch break. She moved carefully as she made her way to the medical building, most everything below her hips was sore and overly sensitive. She hoped Mariana had something that would help get her some relief so she could focus for the rest of the day. She resolved to owl Ginny to send her some bruise paste as well, just in case. Whether it worked for the love bites or not, she knew she'd need a supply on hand for minor work-related injuries. She didn't want to pop over to the medical building anytime she was knocked on her arse, which she was sure was going to happen with some regularity in the coming months.

She was surprised to find the building quiet and mostly empty. Every other time she'd had a reason to drop in there was some calamity or another going on. She had assumed that bites and burns were common enough that it was always busy, but that didn't seem to be the case. She wondered where she would even go to find Mariana as there wasn't anyone at the sign in desk to ask.

"Hermione!" she turned at the sound of her name to see Mariana walking down the hallway toward her at a fair clip. She was dressed in purple scrubs today, having a seemingly endless supply of different colors.

"Mari, do you have a moment? I've got a couple questions..."

"Course was just going to grab a cuppa and a bite. We're pretty quiet today." Hermione followed her back out and toward the mess.

"You look like you're feeling better this morning," she observed, Mariana was fresh-faced and bright as always.

"Got a bit carried away last night, I'll admit. But, I'm fine now. I'll need to pace myself better next time. You didn't rush over mid-morning just to ask me how I'm feeling though, 'Mione. What's going on?" She whirled on her with her fists on her hips, eyebrow cocked in question.

"Do you think bruise paste could help with love bites? Or know something that might work?" Hermione asked with a blush.

"Surely you don't mean the ones on your neck. They can't possibly be that sore still..." Mariana's face was etched with concern.

"The ones I need it for aren't on my neck," Hermione's cheeks burned at the admission.

"I see someone went home with a certain redhead last night!" Mariana waggled her eyebrows at her with a bubbly laugh.

"And this morning..." she mumbled. The other woman's eyes went wide with surprise.

"Well, he's keeping you awfully busy! So where are these ones then?" she teased.

Hermione cleared her throat in response and vaguely gestured to her thighs. Mariana giggled and took her under her arm.

"That explains why you're walking like that. I'm guessing that's not the only reason though…"

"Mari! Cor, you're worse than Charlie!" Hermione blushed furiously as the raven-haired mediwitch giggled at her again.

"I'm only teasing, sweets. You could try bruise paste. They're essentially the same kind of injury. You might want to take a mild pain potion too. I can set you up with some if you like. I don't expect you'll need a very strong one."

"That would be great, Mari, thank you. I'm going to order my own supply of paste from a friend, I don't have any on hand."

"Charlie's brothers? The ones with the joke shop?"

"Fred and George, they own Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." Hermione nodded as they continued on their way toward food and caffeine.

"That's what we use here. I don't know what they put in it, but it works better than anything else on the market."

"They're shockingly talented for a couple of pranksters. I'm still constantly shocked at how many of their products I use with any regularity," she held the door open for the two of them as they made their way inside.

"Next time I'm in London I want to go see their shop in person. Charlie says it's something to be seen," Mariana began to fix her tea in a to-go cup.

"It is. When are you going back next?" she asked as she selected a sandwich from the trays on the next table over.

"Probably for Christmas. I haven't been to visit some of my medical school friends in years, it'd be nice to have a real holiday. I usually get talked into staying to visit with my dad, but we just end up arguing the whole time about me settling down." Hermione could hear the eye roll in her friend's voice and suppressed the urge to laugh.

They settled into a table close to the front after Mariana had picked out her own lunch. They ate in companionable silence, both lost in thought. When they'd finished, Mariana made quick work of getting Hermione what she needed and sending her back to research. Hermione stopped by the owlery to pop off a note to Ginny with the promise to arrange a floo call soon so they could catch up and a request to acquire a case of bruise paste for her. She probably could have owled the twins directly but didn't much feel like the interrogation that would follow such a move. She didn't want to know what they'd do with the information that their older brother was leaving her marked and sore on a regular basis. Ginny, she assumed, wouldn't be that taken aback by the news.

Her goal accomplished, she made her way back to research, tea in hand. She was already starting to feel a bit better as she settled herself back into her desk to work. The potion Mariana had given her helped with her general soreness more than she expected for such a mild brew. The paste she knew would take an hour to handle her thighs, but the tiny bit she'd applied to the fading marks on her neck had already started to work. She wondered how long it would take for her body to adjust to shagging on a regular basis. She didn't want to have to take a potion every couple days just to be able to sit or walk. She debated whether she should brew her own pain potion to keep in her cabin just in case. She assumed she'd be sore places other than her intimate areas once she got into the more physical aspects of dragon taming. Given the number of scars she saw on Charlie and Simon she wondered if she might consider a full medical kit for herself just in case.

Pushing the thought of tamers and tamer injuries out of her mind, she settled back into the repetition of assembling research findings. The rustling of parchment and the scratch of quills easing her mind into a gentle rhythm. She almost thought she could drift off to sleep to the familiar sounds, occasionally having to double check her work as she realised she was indeed beginning to nod off. The lack of sleep the night before was catching up to her. She yawned and set the finished bundles aside, referring to her list for the next set that needed completion before she could go home for the day.

"I know you're leaving us soon, Hermione, but surely we can't be that boring to you now?" Jan teased. Hermione jumped at her voice breaking the silence.

"Sorry, Jan, I didn't sleep much last night and had an early start this morning. I'm not bored, just a bit fatigued," her cheeks lightly pinked at being caught out by her boss.

"It's alright, just don't work yourself too hard. I know how you can get with a deadline looming, no burning the candle at both ends! If you can't finish everything before you go it's alright!"

"Oh no, I'll finish by then. I'm still on track to have it all done by week's end. I'm almost finished with what I needed to get done for today. I was thinking I might have a lie down before dinner." Hermione rose and sorted the assembled papers into the appropriate boxes.

"Let me know if you need any assistance, I can always have one of the others help you. I know you didn't work with a partner much here, but you'll have to do it in the field. Henry doesn't take on solo acts." Jan pressed.

"I'm sure he doesn't. I'm really just assembling everything that needs to be filed here or back at the Ministry if it was more interesting work I might ask for a hand."

Hermione explained as she straightened the pile of parchment in her hands on the side of the desk.

"If you change your mind just let me know." Jan smiled at her and made her way back to her office.

Hermione redoubled her efforts to get through her last bit of work for the day so she could get some much-needed rest. She didn't want Jan to think that she was slacking or being unnecessarily sloppy with her work. Even if the ribbing was good-natured, she'd never been one to make light of laziness. She wanted to be sure she wasn't passing a mess on to the next intern. She'd inherited such a disorganised pile of unfinished work from her predecessor she was absolutely determined to leave nothing behind except a clean work surface. She sighed and went over her checklist for the day again, stifling another yawn. She idly wondered if the other research staff ever got tired of the monotony of assembling and filing at the end of a project. It occurred to her that she wasn't even sure she could name all the other research interns who had appeared and disappeared over the months. Other than Jan, she wasn't sure that many of the current staff had even been there long enough to remember the beginning of most of the projects she was in the process of wrapping up. She found the thought oddly comforting, liking the idea that she wasn't leaving much to be missed in her old department.

* * *

Hermione flopped face first into her bed the moment she appeared in her bedroom. When she'd gotten her second wind toward the end of filing she had planned on returning home and having a nice long bath and catching up on some reading before having a kip before dinner. The exhaustion of so little sleep from the night before hit her harder than expected when she'd finally clocked out to apparate home. She'd considered walking instead, afraid she might splinch herself. The urge to get to her bed as quickly as possible convinced her to take the risk and just twist home. Now she was totally incapable of divesting herself of her boots and clothing. She'd only made it halfway up the mattress, leaving her feet dangling off the end. Instead of doing the sensible thing and removing her boots to crawl the rest of the way up she yanked a pillow to herself instead and burrowed herself into it. With a satisfied sigh, she was out.

Several hours later she woke in a tangle of her own hair and one foot stuck in the sheets, having at some point crawled the rest of the way up the bed. She groaned as she tried to untangle herself, managing only to roll herself gracelessly to the floor. With a muffled "oomph" she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She debated just going back to sleep where she was on the floor and letting the tangle of boots and sheets win this one, but the unmistakable sound of an incoming floo call had her scrambling to get to her feet.

"Hermione, are you home?" she heard the muffled feminine voice coming from the other room.

"I'm home! Hold on just a moment, I'll be right there!" She called out to whoever was attempting to contact her. Finally freeing herself of the mess she'd made she skittered out the door and down the hall to her living room, attempting to catch her breath as appeared in front of the flames. She brushed her hair out of her face and hoped she didn't look too terrible.

"There you are! Is everything alright? You're at sixes and sevens…" Mariana's familiar face asked through the flames.

"I'm alright, I was just having a bit of a kip while I had some downtime. What's going on?" She continued to try and right her clothing as she settled onto the armchair closest to the fireplace.

"I was hoping you might want to join me for a bit of a girls' night. I ran into Alana at dinner and I think the menfolk are driving her spare right now. Might be a good chance for you to meet her in a friendly capacity before you have to work together. Nothing too crazy, promise!"

"I'm really am very tired, Mari…"

"Oh, come on! You know if you stay there you'll just end up calling Charlie when you get bored and do you really want to take another pain potion tomorrow?" She teased.

"I'm starting to really wish I hadn't said anything…" Hermione groaned.

"It's not like it was hard to figure out that you're shagging him. And if you hadn't asked me for the potion today you would have had to brew it yourself and you'd still be in pain now waiting for it to be done…" Mariana rolled her eyes at her.

"I suppose you're right. Back to the matter at hand, I could come out for a little bit. But if I get too tired I'm coming right back here. I've only got a few days left in research and I'd like to stay on Jan's good side for the remainder."

"Just come out for a bit and if it gets to be too late we'll all turn in early. Just put on something comfy and be ready in twenty minutes!" She disappeared without telling her where they were going or giving her a chance to back out.

"Suppose that means I'm going out for a bit." She sighed tiredly and made her way back to her bedroom, finally pulling off her boots.

"Much as I've enjoyed breaking these in, I think something without a heel might be more appropriate…" she mumbled to herself. She continued to narrate her choices to herself, too tired to keep the thoughts in her head.

In a matter of minutes, she'd managed to slip into a pair of well-worn jeans and black trainers. She pulled an old Gryffindor Quidditch jumper over her favourite gray tee shirt and took a look at herself in the mirror, deciding that she didn't look too horribly sloppy. She washed her face and brushed her teeth in an attempt to help herself feel less tired. The water helped some in making her feel a little more awake, a second smaller dose of Pepper-up potion accomplished the rest. She piled her hair into a messy topknot and hoped the elastic would hold for the night, not feeling up to battling the riotous curls into submission. She swiped on a coat of mascara and dotted on a bit of gloss in the hopes that it would help distract from the bags under her eyes. She gave herself one last appraisal in the mirror before heading out of the cabin to wait for Mariana.

She didn't have to wait long, spotting the other woman just a few cabins down. She was happy to see that Mariana had opted for an outfit not dissimilar to her own. A Weird Sisters tee peeked out from her unbuttoned coat over jeans and white trainers. She looked comfortable and relaxed as she approached, hands in her coat pockets and a bit of a bounce in her step.

"Right, this way then!" She chirped, leading the way without stopping. Hermione double checked her wand was in her pocket and fell into step beside her friend.

"How was the rest of your shift? Everything stay pretty quiet?" Hermione asked, noting that they were heading toward the tamer housing.

"Light day all around. Didn't get a single emergency patient today. Which, of course, means tomorrow is going to be hellish. Seems to be the way of things here. The dragons don't like to go too many days in a row without trying to take a bite out of someone or trying to roast a tamer who isn't paying close enough attention. Wouldn't have it any other way, of course." Mariana winked at her with a breezy laugh.

"I'm a bit nervous how I'm going to get on with the new lifestyle once I've finished in research. I'm knackered after just a couple days of trying to keep a tamer schedule, and I'm not even in the field! I imagine a fair few of the injuries you see over the next couple weeks are going to be me." Hermione wrinkled her face in thought as she considered how she would survive the new hours.

"You'll adjust to it pretty quickly. And there's no shame in catching a bit of sleep during your breaks. Charlie and Simon likely won't admit it, but they've been known to have a bit of a kip during lunch. You should ask Alana about it, I'm sure she'll have some advice on how to get yourself prepared for all the changes." Mariana shot her a comforting smile.

"Oi! Mari, 'Mione!" They turned to see Simon jogging to catch up with them.

"Beat it you tosser, it's girls' night!" Mariana teased.

"Girls' night? Since when? Thought you two might like to keep Charlie and me company for a bit, we're on call tonight..." He explained, linking his arms through theirs.

"Not tonight, Simon! Alana awaits!" Mariana extricated herself and took Hermione by the hand, pulling her in the direction of a cabin on the opposite side of the road.

"You know where to find us if you change your minds!" He called after.

Mariana knocked on the cabin door, giving Hermione's hand an excited squeeze as they waited for an answer.

"I think you're really going to like her. Alana is amazing!" She bounced on the balls of her feet impatiently.

"I haven't heard much about her, honestly," Hermione admitted just as the door opened. She was not prepared for the woman standing on the other side.


	6. Chapter 6: Just A Girl

**AN:** I'm getting over a particularly nasty chest cold and finally got a chance to get this at least semi-decent for posting. My start date at the new job has been pushed back since I can't go to the training while I'm contagious. So it will be another couple weeks before the update schedule has to change completely. Bit shorter this time. Title is from No Doubt.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Updated for grammar and formatting 8/26/18**

 **Just A Girl**

The petite woman with the slicked back, jet black pixie cut was not what she assumed a female tamer would look like. She could have sworn the photograph in Henry's office showed a heavier-set blonde, but perhaps she was misremembering. She could scarcely be as tall as Hermione herself, but she somehow carried herself as if she were much taller. She lacked the bulky muscle of the men, her body was much more cut and lean than the photograph she'd seen. It occurred to Hermione it was likely to be an older shot, as the woman in the tight white tee shirt and slim cut jeans looked much more experienced than the one she'd seen. Tattoos snaked up and down her right arm and peeked out from the sleeve on her left. They appeared to be mostly dragons, but she thought she could spy a few runes and constellations mixed into the chaotic design. They appeared to be mostly Muggle, though the stars seemed to twinkle the longer she looked at them. Unsure where to look, she cast her eyes downward and couldn't help but notice that the other woman was barefoot, her toenails painted neon pink to match her fingernails. Alana let out a little laugh, making Hermione shoot her attention back to the other woman's face. Her light green eyes sparkled with a friendliness that didn't quite match the mischievous set of her jaw. There was something undeniably wild and undeniably feminine about the dragon tamer.

"Not what you were expecting?" she chuckled prettily at Hermione's shocked stare.

"I'm so sorry, it's rude of me to stare. I'm Hermione Granger." She offered her hand to the other woman, the hug she received instead surprising her. She could have given Molly Weasley a run for her money with the way she wrapped her with her whole being.

"I'm Alana Peterson. Don't feel bad, I know when people hear 'dragon tamer' they aren't exactly picturing me." She leaned over to embrace Mariana before leading everyone inside.

"I do have the requisite scars and tattoos though, I can assure you!" She joked, taking them past the living room to the kitchen.

"I did notice the tattoos, you've got quite a few..." Hermione observed.

"There's even more on my back, you'll see them at some point. I'm quite proud of them really. Just wait until you get your first one, you'll be showing it to everyone!" she laughed.

"I don't know that I'll be getting any tattoos…" she shook her head slightly with a frown, she'd never considered getting one.

"Trust me, 'Mione, this one thought that too when she first got here. You'll be singing a different tune once you taste fire for the first time. If you don't immediately want to commemorate it yourself the others will talk you into it." Mariana explained, helping herself to the bottle of elf-made wine and a glass on the counter.

"She's not wrong, there's something particularly life-changing about surviving your first blast of flames or your first big body check. You may not think you'll want to remember it now, but you will. No one forgets their first time." Alana poured two glasses of wine and offered one to Hermione. She led them back to the living room, settling into one of the armchairs.

The room was surprisingly bare as if she spent little time there and couldn't be bothered to personalise the space. The only item that didn't appear to be part of the original furnishings provided by the reserve was a rather large, unfinished, painting leaning against the wall next to the fireplace. Hermione couldn't tell what the painting was going to be of, it was mostly just washes of color at this point. A swirl of warm oranges and reds over a deep blue.

"I paint." Alana offered when she saw where she was looking.

"What's it going to be?" She turned to face their host, taking a sip of her wine.

"I haven't decided which one it will be yet, but likely one of the Horntails. I haven't painted one of them yet." She shrugged, flicking her wand at the wireless on the mantle. A Weird Sisters' song began to play.

"You've painted others?" Hermione's curiosity was piqued, she loved art.

"Yes, but I don't have any of them here. I'll let you see this one when it's finished though." She smiled, cocking her head at the barely started canvas.

"I'd like that, I love art. I've never been much good at it myself." Hermione sighed wistfully.

"Alana sells her paintings in town, there's a little gallery there that displays them for her. The funds help support the reserve." Mariana offered, beaming at the now blushing dragon tamer.

"How wonderful! You don't need to be embarrassed about that." She soothed.

"Not many people know their mine. I usually put everything away if any of the tamers are coming 'round, they'd never let me live it down if they knew. Mari said you could keep a secret so I didn't bother moving the unfinished one." Her cheeks still burned brightly as she took another drink of her wine.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, I'd hate to start our friendship on an uncomfortable note…" Hermione offered.

"So, you do want to be friends then?" Alana perked at the news.

"Why wouldn't I? We're going to be working together, aren't we?" she was startled by the other woman's response.

"Well… I've heard you don't exactly have many friends here and anytime I've read about you it only mentions men. I just assumed you didn't much like the company of other women. Not that that would be a problem!" Alana blushed again, smacking herself in the forehead at her forwardness. Hermione couldn't help but to laugh, she set her glass on the coffee table and doubled over in a fit of hysteria. Tears were near to running down her face when she finally took a breath and sat up again to face the others.

"Sweet Merlin… I'm sorry, I didn't mean... You're right, I've not made many friends here. But, Mariana here is one of them and she's definitely a woman. They don't write about who my other friends are because they aren't as famous as Harry or Ron. I promise you, I've had female friends before." She picked her glass up again and drained half of it with a small shake of her head and a smile on her face.

"Hermione wasn't particularly happy in research, other than Jan I don't think she's spoken more than a half-dozen words to any of them the entire time she's been here. She befriended Simon and me quickly enough, though I imagine Charlie had something to do with that." Mariana explained with a shrug.

"Charlie? What would he have to do with it?" Alana cocked her head and gave Hermione a searching look.

"I knew Charlie before I came here. He's Ron's older brother." She tried to fight down the blush that threatened to stain her cheeks, not wanting to reveal the other way in which she knew the ginger-haired tamer.

"He's quite something, that one," Alana said cryptically.

"Oh?" Hermione tried not to sound too eager.

"He didn't mention he knew you from before when he told the rest of us you'd be joining the program. I imagine he didn't want to taint your reputation." Her green eyes bore into Hermione, a flicker of knowing hidden in their depths.

"Why would knowing Charlie taint her reputation?" Mariana slid to the edge of her seat with rapt attention.

"Assumptions would be made. Especially given that Henry let it slip that someone referred her. I'm guessing that was Weasley." She cocked an eyebrow at Hermione.

"He did, yes." She nodded, a slight heat climbing the back of her neck.

"I wouldn't let anyone else know that. At least, not at first. They're going to try and eat you alive as it is." She gave her an encouraging smile.

"Everyone keeps warning me about that, but you're still here. It can't be that bad if they haven't run all the women out…" Hermione finished her wine, setting the glass on the coffee table.

"Not for lack of trying, mind you. Some of those knuckleheads are old-fashioned and sexist as they come. Once you've proven you can handle yourself, they'll mostly back off. But, they aren't going to make it easy. Try and get partnered with one of the more difficult tamers, someone who thinks you'll fail. It sounds counter-intuitive, but they take it personally if their trainees don't make it to the end of the program." Alana drained her own glass and leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs at the knee.

"So what you're saying is I should find out who the most pigheaded are and get them as a partner on purpose because then they'll have to help me instead of hindering me?"

"Basically. Unless you're utter shite at this, they won't want to see you fail. The most important thing to remember, no matter who you get partnered with, is that you and I are something special."

"Women tamers?" Mariana interjected, not quite following the thread of conversation. Alana shook her head and locked eyes with Hermione before continuing.

"We, my dear, are women on fire. You haven't tasted flame yet, but you feel drawn to the burn, yeah? Just something about the idea of working with them keeps you fixated on it, not quite sure what to do with the feeling?" Hermione nodded in

acknowledgment. No one had articulated her feelings about it quite so clearly before.

"I was the same way, it doesn't make any sense but you feel the pull from deep inside."

"It wasn't that clear for me. Charlie convinced me to stay." Hermione admitted.

"Charlie's good at identifying good candidates. He doesn't generally say anything to anyone, but he has a perfect success rate at picking out which people will finish the program. It's actually a bit his fault I'm here still." She laughed, her eyes glinting mischievously.

"How so?" Mariana drained her glass and set it with the other two, scooching even further to the edge of her seat.

"Do you remember that Vipertooth that got loose toward the end of my training?" She asked Mariana.

"It broke through the wards and ended up terrorizing the local farmers. Took them nearly a week to track down where it was hiding in the mountains. They're not as large as some of the other breeds, so it was harder to narrow down where it might be hiding." Mariana explained to Hermione.

"We'd finally managed to corner the beast, but it kept getting out of the ropes. We were going on the third hour of trying to get close enough to just sedate the poor bastard so we could get it back in a crate since flying it wasn't going to happen. It was my job to get the dart in, but the stupid thing kept spitting flame or snapping at me anytime I got too close. Vipertooths, if you didn't know, are partial to the taste of human flesh. I was pouring in sweat and at the end of my tether with the damn thing. And Charlie is just laughing his fool head off at me while I'm cursing and trying to sweet talk it enough to not get killed." She took a breath, frustrated at the memory.

"Why wasn't he helping?" Hermione piped up.

"That's what I wanted to know. He was just standing there, giving me directions or laughing. Didn't lift a bloody finger the whole time. Finally, I snapped and shoved him as hard as I could and started screaming that I was going to quit the whole thing because I couldn't knock the fool beast out and he was being a right arse just standing there cackling like a hyena."

"What she's leaving out Hermione, is that Charlie and the other tamers had been egging her on for weeks to take a swing at one of them. They're a very hands-on bunch, but Alana wouldn't do it. They're used to manhandling each other, but since she wouldn't roughhouse with them they didn't know what to do with her." Mariana interrupted.

"Right, the advice there Hermione is the first time you feel like belting one of the meatheads just go right on and do it. Yelling doesn't do a damn thing, but a well-placed smack or a good shove in the dirt will get them to reconsider whatever it is they're doing."

"I'll keep it in mind." Hermione looked mildly alarmed but kept her voice even.

"Anyway, I've shoved him as hard as I can and I'm screaming myself hoarse and he just keeps laughing. Finally, I just tackled him to the ground. I sat on his chest and demanded he help me dart the damn thing so we could bring it in before the beast got away again or killed one of us. He looked so shocked that I'd finally let him have it that he goes completely silent. He pushed me off, nodded and distracted it so I could get in and put it to sleep. From then on, I didn't wait for one of them to help me I just demanded it, and if they didn't listen I took 'em in hand and made them do it. I haven't threatened to quit since." She finished with a laugh, rolling up her right sleeve to show them a tattoo of a sleeping Vipertooth.

"I can't believe he did that… He was just going to let you get killed?" Hermione was indignant, her knuckles white where she'd been gripping the edges of her sleeves.

"Oh no, he would've stepped in eventually. He just wasn't going to do it until I stopped asking for respect and started demanding it. He's smarter than he looks, he probably could have done the whole job on his own but took me with him because he knew it'd get me to the breaking point. I think he knew if I didn't learn how to assert myself verbally and physically there was no way Henry would offer me a permanent spot. I'm actually very grateful to the insufferable git." Alana smiled fondly with a little shake of her head.

"It doesn't exactly instill confidence that at some point he might be in charge of any aspect of my training," Hermione said skeptically.

"I doubt Henry will let that happen." Alana got up and fiddled with the knobs on the wireless which had turned over to the week's Quidditch highlights.

"Why? Isn't he one of the senior tamers?"

"Yeah, but if you keep walking around looking like his favourite chew toy, eventually Henry is going to catch on you two are more than friends."

"How did…" Hermione shot an angry glance at Mariana, that explained the knowing look Alana had given her earlier.

"She didn't say anything if that's what you're worried about. Neither did Charlie, so don't go hexing him to England and back." She laughed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, 'Mione. I told you I wouldn't tell anyone." Mariana huffed.

"Sorry, Mari. Then how?" Hermione looked sheepish before she directed her attention back to Alana.

"I was in the club the night you two left together. I saw the marks on your neck, albeit faded when you went to the owlery earlier. You were so out of it, I wasn't sure if you knew anyone else was even in there. Sorry for being so crass about it, I've been sitting here trying to puzzle out a polite way to mention it all day. There was about zero chance I wasn't just going to spit it out like a total arse. I won't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about." Alana's face contorted with a mix of pain and remorse at what she'd just said.

"I'd appreciate that, I don't want people thinking I only got in because I'm shagging Charlie." Hermione worried her lower lip at the thought. Mariana excused herself to the loo, not wanting to be a part of the awkward conversation.

"Henry would never let something like that happen, but I understand the concern. Just… be careful with him, yeah?" Alana continued once Mariana was out of earshot.

"I know, everyone keeps telling me Charlie is shite at relationships…"

"That's not what I meant. He isn't as callous or unfeeling as everyone thinks he is. He's had his heart broken more than a few times. Just be gentle with him, I get the feeling you could shatter him if he lets himself get caught up." She looked oddly maternal as she settled back into her seat, having given up on the wireless.

"We agreed this would just be a casual thing. He's actually been calming me down about the whole thing." She confided.

"Whatever is between you two is none of my business, but I worry about him. We were partners for a little while. He's opened up about some things in the past, I just don't want to see him hurt." She sighed, the air thick with things she hadn't said.

"I appreciate that." Hermione nodded, not making eye contact.

"Right well, this is awkward." They both laughed nervously waiting for Mariana to reappear.

"You're just being a good friend, Alana, I would be doing the same thing."

"In the guise of continuing to be a good friend. Don't fall for Simon's bullshit. He's going to flirt and try to make you uncomfortable if he hasn't already. Just ignore him. He's really only got eyes for Mari, no matter how sincere he seems. Trust me on that, she may not be the settling down type but he most definitely is. It's why they're so hot and cold all the time." She whispered across the coffee table to her, forcing Hermione to lean closer.

"Charlie mentioned Simon was attracted to me, but he didn't exactly encourage my doing anything about it."

"Well he wouldn't would he? Not if he's got something going with you Simon doesn't know about. And it's not likely he does. When Simon and Mari are off Charlie doesn't like to rub it in his face when he's got somebody. It's oddly endearing." She chuckled, leaning back into her seat as Mariana reentered the room.

"What'd I miss?" she asked, looking at the two women expectantly.

"Nothing much, just trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the night." Alana lied easily.

"I've got an idea, I've just been snooping in your fridge." Mariana held up a tray of cut and bake cookies and a bottle of firewhisky from behind her back.

"Bit of mayhem at the on-call cabin, then?" Alana stood with a devilish smile breaking across her face.

"I'm sorry?" Hermione asked, glancing in confusion between the other women.

"Hermione, you're going to learn what happens when Charlie and Simon are on-call and Alana gets a little bored," Mariana answered with a smirk. Hermione swallowed, mildly concerned what damage they could do with cookie dough and alcohol.

* * *

Half an hour and half a bottle of firewhisky later, Hermione found herself carrying a plate of cookies into the dark and quiet of the reserve. They made their way toward the on-call cabin at the far end of the tamer housing closest to the enclosures. Alana skipping along beside her, still barefoot, holding a case of beer and the rest of the firewhisky. Mariana had a bucket of ice cream and a handful of spoons. While they'd been waiting for the cookies to finish she'd learned that Alana was a big fan of dropping in unannounced on the other tamers when they were on-call. It sounded like she mostly did it out of her own boredom, but she claimed it was out of concern for her fellow tamers because being on-call was "mind-numbingly boring."

"Why does every night here seem to end with me drinking more than I mean to?" Hermione asked Mariana as the approached the quiet cabin.

"You'll get used to it. Either that, or you'll learn to babysit the rest of us." She laughed.

"She's actually not wrong. We're drinkers, but I think you may have figured that out." Alana winked at her, making to open the cabin door.

"Charlie, Simon?" She called into the calm of the cabin.

"You think they're on a call?" Mariana asked when they didn't get a response.

"I doubt it. Probably napping. Hermione, Charlie usually stays in the back room. You get him and we'll get Simon?" Alana suggested. Hermione nodded and set the cookies on the hall table as she made her way through the dark to the back of the cabin.

She could see the outline of Charlie asleep on top of the blankets of a cot just under the window. She slipped through the crack in the door and tiptoed toward his sleeping form, stifling a laugh at his light snoring. She checked behind her to make sure no one could see them through the crack in the door and straddled him, leaning down to take his lips in hers. He groaned against her, trying to pull back slightly. His eyes popped open as she slid her tongue along his bottom lip.

"Shh…" she covered his mouth with her hand when he started to speak. She felt him smirk beneath her hand when he recognized who it was hovering over him. She removed her hand and leaned in again, this time not waiting to twine her tongue with his. She felt his hands lightly grip her hips and rearrange her so he could bring himself level with her. He searched her mouth hungrily, nipping at her lips as the heat between them increased. She was so enthralled with him she didn't hear the commotion coming from the other room.

"Blimey! Why couldn't you two have woken me up like that?" Simon bellowed, turning on the lights. She could hear Alana and Mariana bursting into giggles behind him as she stumbled over herself trying to get off Charlie, succeeding only in toppling the entire cot onto the floor.

"Shite." Charlie gasped, pinning her to the floor by accident. They scrambled to right everything as twin blushes seared across their faces.

"Charlie you git, why didn't you tell me instead of letting me make passes at her? Have you two been together the whole time?" Simon groaned.

"Not together exactly…" Charlie started.

"They're just shagging," Alana added, helpfully.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Am I the only one who didn't know?" Simon huffed.

"Only reason I didn't tell you, mate, is because you said you might fancy her. I did tell her you fancied her like you asked though…" Charlie defended.

"Fat lot of good it did me too, given that you're already shagging her. You're a terrible wingman." Simon grumbled.

"Would it help that you're not exactly my type?" Hermione offered.

"Not really. Makes me feel a right arse though with all the flirting I was doing the other night."

"You're not exactly subtle. I would have shot you down anyway, you've got to work on your technique. Your intensity is a little unnerving." Hermione admitted.

"Can we change the subject, please? I already feel like an arse." Simon buried his face in his hands, the embarrassment heavy in his voice. Mariana was in tears with laughter behind him.

"We brought dessert!" Alana chirped.

"And something to drink, I hope?" Simon asked from behind his hands.

"Of course…" she led him out of the room, clicking the door closed behind them.

"Well shite." Charlie laughed.

"Will he keep it a secret? I don't want Henry bouncing me because you and I are… whatever we are." Hermione asked seriously.

"I'll talk to him. Once he gets over the embarrassment he won't care. Once your probation is up it won't matter who you're with, but for the first six weeks, Henry won't want to hear about you getting overly friendly with anybody in the program. Let alone the person who gave you your recommendation." He sighed and helped her to her feet.

"Guess we'll have to be more careful. Well, really it's just me that needs to be more careful. It seems like everybody keeps figuring it out because of things I've done."

"I know we said no rules before, but now I'm thinking we might need some rules." He begrudgingly admitted.

"That may not be a bad idea. We can talk about it tomorrow, right now I think we'd better get out there before they think we're shagging in here." She laughed and helped him toss everything back on the cot.

"For what it's worth, it's not a bad way to wake me up when I'm on-call." He teased, swatting her behind as she made her way through the door to rejoin the others.


	7. Chapter 7: A-Yo

**AN:** I know this is a really short chapter. I wanted to get you guys something before the

weekend. I won't be able to work on anything after tonight until Monday so I've got to get everything updated tonight. Hopefully, this little filler chapter will hold you over until then. Title is from Lady Gaga.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Formatting and grammar updated 8/26/18**

 **A-Yo**

Hermione woke up wrapped around Charlie on the floor next to the cot in the backroom of the on-call cabin. How, exactly, they'd gotten there she wasn't sure. There had been shots and beer. Then, Simon had produced another bottle of firewhisky. She had vague recollections of wrestling Charlie over the last bit of ice cream. Not her finest hour. Sometime after that, she'd lost track of the night. This was not a habit she wanted to continue building on. She did not recall how she'd gotten from the cot onto the floor, though she did remember climbing into the cot alone at some point. She was especially confused as to why Charlie did not wake her and had settled down on the floor with her instead. She noticed they both were still dressed, so she didn't think anything had happened. With a groan, she tried to extricate herself from the tangle of limbs. The effort only made him cling to her tighter, defeating the entire purpose of trying to rise.

She was fairly certain she was late for work based on the light filtering through the curtains. Her head throbbed, her back was sore from sleeping on the floor, and she was sticky. She did not like feeling sticky. She wondered when the next team was due at the cabin and if she had enough time to make an escape before they noticed who she was with. She shoved against the wall of Charlie and half-heartedly tried to tug herself out of his embrace.

"Alana called you out sick two hours ago, stop squirming," he grumbled into the top of her head.

"What?" She croaked.

"You don't have work today. Alana owled Jan and told her you were not feeling well and that she was keeping an eye on you."

"Why?"

"Probably because there's no anti-hangover potion left in the cabin and you had more shots than someone as tiny as you should be able to drink and still live?" He grumbled, still half asleep.

"Why am I sticky?"

"Ice cream," he answered as if that in any way answered her question.

"Charlie, I've got…" he put a hand over her mouth and shushed her.

"No one uses the on-call cabin during the day so the staff from the night before can sleep. Be quiet and go back to sleep." He snuggled into her, intent on going back to sleep.

"Can we at least get back on the cot?" She sighed, it didn't seem worth fighting about. He grunted in agreement and untangled himself, crawling up onto the cot and rolling onto his side. He pulled her back down when she stood and trapped her under his arm and leg.

* * *

"Charlie," she bolted upright and shook him.

"Hmph," he grumbled, starting to stir.

"I think somebody is here…" she hissed, straining to identify the voices that had woken her.

"What?" He sat up and slowly focused on what she was saying, scrubbing the sleep from his face.

"I hear voices in the other room."

"Shite. Don't leave." He climbed out over her and slipped out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

She couldn't really hear what was being said in the other room. She could make out four male voices, only recognizing two of them. She held her breath and tried to piece together what was being said. She heard a bark of unfamiliar laughter followed by a fumbling at the door. She jumped as it was pushed open and quickly snapped closed again. The colour drained from her cheeks as the laughter continued. Did they know she was here? She swallowed and jumped to her feet, preparing to apparate away. The door opened again, this time Charlie slipped back in.

"Sorry! Complete arses. They're gone, don't worry about it…" he walked over and wrapped his arms around her, his lips moving to her pulse point.

"Charlie…" she groaned, half-heartedly trying to push him away.

"You smell like ice cream." He chuckled into her neck.

"Shut it, Weasley. I get the feeling that is very much your fault."

"Might have been." She could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I need a shower." She leaned away from him, blocking his next advance.

"Need any help?" He teased with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"I think we need to have a discussion about how all of this is going to work before we go sharing any more showers." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I can meet you at yours in an hour." He offered with a disappointed sigh.

"I'll make lunch." She said before twisting herself away.

* * *

It took nearly twenty minutes to untangle her hair. Whatever he'd done to get the ice cream all over her neck, it was also matted into her curls. She grumbled to herself as she worked through the last of it and debated the merits of cutting it all off. The anti-hangover potion she'd taken when she first arrived hadn't helped with much, she'd waited too long to take it. Back in clean clothes and freshly showered she was starting to feel a little bit better, even if her head did still hurt. She slowly made her way to the kitchen and made up a few chicken sandwiches as she waited for Charlie. His arrival was announced with a loud pop, making her wince.

"You and the twins apparate louder than anyone I have ever met." She complained, handing him a plate.

"It started as a joke, but then we couldn't stop." He shrugged it off, immediately digging into the sandwiches and salad she'd piled on his plate.

"I hope your head hurts as badly as mine does. Especially given how long it took me to get all that ice cream out of my hair…" she scowled at him over her own food.

"I'm not all that sorry for that." He laughed, grimacing when it made his own head hurt.

"So…" She set her food down and leaned across the island to look at him.

"So?" He countered, setting his own plate down on the island.

"How are we going to handle this?" She indicated between the two of them, trying to encompass all of the situation in a simple hand gesture.

"Well… that depends." He leaned onto his elbows, a contemplative look on his face.

"Depends on what?"

"Who you get partnered with. If you end up with me, we can't do anything until after your probation. If you get somebody else, we can figure something out."

"I was under the impression I got to pick my own partner… Alana said…" she shook her head in confusion.

"Alana didn't give you all the information. You can request a specific partner, but it doesn't mean Henry will pair you with them. Even if you request somebody else, he still might put us together."

"Damn." She muttered.

"Yeah."

"Well, in the meantime what are we going to do? I don't exactly want to stop…" She worried her bottom lip, looking up at him through her lashes.

"We have to be more careful in public. Apparently, we're pretty obvious." He crossed around to her side of the island, trapping her between his arms.

"At the very least I am. Every time I do something stupid somebody finds out…" she ran her hands up his arms.

"Guess you're going to have to stop doing stupid stuff then." He leaned over and kissed her neck.

"Oh, haha. It's not on purpose you great git." She gasped as he gently bit down.

"At least I'm great." He mumbled into her, working at re-marking her skin.

"You're infuriating." She moaned, trying to move his mouth away.

"But you can't get enough of me."

"Says who?" She tried to fake indignation, but the moan he drew out of her when his hands massaged her chest betrayed her.

"Says the fact that you aren't calling the whole thing off…" He pulled her shirt off, kissing across her chest.

"Do you want to? Call things off, that is?" She barely got the words out.

"Not a chance." He growled, lifting her onto the island.

"I think we need to keep a buffer between us in public. You get handsy."

"What, like this?" He ran his hands up and down her thighs, ghosting over her heated center.

"Mmmhmm..." She moaned, closing her eyes.

"We keep it behind locked doors from now on. No more flirting, no more touching…" His fingers began to work open the button on her jeans, she shimmied to help him pull them off her.

"What about the on-call cabin?" She pulled his shirt off and started to work on his belt.

"Probably fine as long as no one drops in…" She interrupted him with a deep kiss.

"Anything we're forgetting?" She panted, pulling back slightly.

"Hmmm. There's one thing. You can say 'no', and we won't change anything." He was fiddling with the waistband on her knickers, running his lips over the shell of her ear.

"What is it?" She pushed him back slightly, noting his eyes were as dilated as she imagined hers were.

"I don't want to be with other people. Not unless you're going to start dating someone. I don't want to share…" He huffed, stepping out of his jeans without breaking eye contact.

"I think that'd be okay…" she nodded. She'd been starting to think the same thing.

"Good. Lie back." His smile was wolfish as he helped guide her back before sliding off her knickers and diving in with his tongue.


	8. Chapter 8: Beautiful With You

**AN: UPDATE TO POSTING SCHEDULE.** In order to update more frequently while I'm working 7 days per week, I've decided to shorten the chapters a bit until after the new year. The other option was updating closer to once every two weeks, but I get antsy when I make you guys wait too long. Hopefully, this will make things a bit more manageable. Title is from Halestorm.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Formatted and edited for grammar 8/26/18**

 **Beautiful With You**

The remaining days flew by in a blur. Jan had not made a big fuss on her last day, not that Hermione expected her to. Instead, she found a congratulations note on her desk and a small box containing a pair of dragon hide handlers gloves. The thoughtfulness of the gesture made her tear up as she gave her desk one last thorough scrub down before owling off the last of the paperwork from her final research project. She wouldn't miss the department or the tedium of the work, but she knew she would miss Jan. She decided to at least attempt to drop in on the older woman from time to time, they were still going to be working on the same reserve after all.

She was once again surrounded by people she cared about and that cared about her. She hadn't realised how much she really missed seeing Harry and Ron with regularity. And there was always the guilt of not writing or floo calling Ginny enough. The ginger spitfire had given her a rather deserved tongue lashing when they'd last spoken. She was especially irritated that Hermione had requested a large quantity of bruise paste without explanation (though it hadn't stopped her from sending it posthaste). When she relayed she'd been shagging someone that had a fondness for leaving marks she was certain that all of Romania and Britain heard the squeal the younger witch let loose. Thankfully, she'd not asked for a name or anything that would lead her to reveal it was Charlie. The thought of telling her friends and family back home that she was sexually entangled with the second eldest Weasley was anxiety-inducing.

She knew they would eventually need to discuss what was going to happen when they went home for Christmas in a few months, but that could wait a little longer. Secretly, she was looking forward to sneaking into Charlie's old room in the middle of the night for some naughty fun. She'd always envied Ginny her skill of sneaking around the crowded house with Harry and never getting caught. Well, except that one time George watched her snog Harry on his birthday. He still teased them for it, much to Harry's chagrin, his fiance not caring a whit what her brother teased her for. Hermione liked sneaking around with Charlie, it was oddly freeing.

She sighed to herself in irritation as she made her way home. They hadn't been able to have sex for several days now. In preparation for working with the dragons, Alana had suggested she switch to a different contraceptive potion. This one would stop her courses completely, which would come in handy when working with the more sensitive dragons during mating season. While it was still a ways off, she's made the decision to make the switch now. The only downside seemed to be that she wouldn't be able to have sex for several days while it went into effect.

She was pleasantly surprised then when she saw Charlie leaning against her front door with his eyes closed and arms crossed. His red hair nearly glowed in the afternoon sun, pieces messily working their way loose of his ponytail. She slowed her pace to enjoy the view before he noticed she was there. Her eyes automatically swept over the mass of muscle that was Charlie Weasley. She loved the contrasts of him. His skin was undeniably soft over the hard muscle with the exception of the calluses on his fingers and hands. His skin was pale beneath his freckles, looking like a tan from further away. She could stare at him all day, though she would rather touch.

Today was the first day she was allowed to have sex again and they'd arranged for her to pop over to his place later that evening. He heard her approach and opened his eyes and dropped his arms as he pushed off her door. He smirked at her raised eyebrows as she approached, shooting her a wink at the same time. She tried to look annoyed at his unplanned visit, but it was difficult. She was secretly delighted that he couldn't wait until their prearranged time to meet. No partner had ever made her feel as desired as Charlie did. She could feel the want rolling off of him as he followed her inside.

"I thought we were supposed to be more cautious about being seen in public together. What will people think of you waiting at my door like that." Hermione teased, spinning to face him.

"Nobody saw me." He shrugged, leaning in to kiss her.

His lips were as warm and dry as they always were against hers, gently leading her in a slow dance. He didn't seem in as much of a hurry as she had initially assumed. Not that it was a bad thing. She liked the slow burn of things when he got like this. She knew he'd build her up to the brink and back her down slowly before doing it all again, letting the cycle repeat until she couldn't take anymore. They hadn't shagged since that day on her kitchen island and she was desperate for the release only he could provide. He teased his tongue into her mouth and tangled his hands in her hair, firmly planting his feet when she tried to guide him toward the bedroom.

"Not so fast... " he mumbled against her mouth. He pulled her toward the living room instead, setting her on the arm of the sofa as he continued to explore her mouth. She couldn't help but feel like a couple of teenagers snogging on the common room couch. Something she'd never really had a chance to try, not that she would have been comfortable doing so in front of so many witnesses. Still, it was fun to imagine they were in Gryffindor Tower between classes when no one was around. She smiled at the thought, which he took as an opportunity to speed up the pace a bit.

She could feel the warmth of his palm through her blouse as he began to knead the flesh of her breast. She moaned softly, breaking their kiss. He trailed kisses down her neck and across her throat, occasionally nipping at the sensitive spots. She toyed with his ponytail, unsure where to put her hands in this situation without rushing things along. She was enjoying the extra time he was taking with her.

Eventually, she couldn't help but to move her hands to his chest and explore the ridges of muscle. She lightly scratched through the fabric, eliciting an approving noise from him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and began to lean back onto the sofa, forcing him to catch them as they tumbled into the cushions. They both laughed under their breath at the absurdity of the move, scrambling into a more comfortable position, with him hovering over the top of her with one leg between her knees. He kissed her again, deeper this time, and began to slowly undo the buttons on her blouse. He redirected his lips to her collarbone, kissing each new piece of exposed skin. When he reached her chest he took the time to cover the tops of each breast in kisses and long strokes of his tongue, not moving to remove her bra just yet. He lingered at the last button, making her pant heavily in anticipation.

"Take it off…" she grumbled when he batted her hands away after she attempted to reach down and remove it herself. He raised his brows at her.

"I see someone is learning to ask for what they want." She cocked an eyebrow at him, wandlessly banishing his shirt across the room. He smirked, removing and throwing her top aside before kissing his way back up her body in retaliation. She moaned as he licked and nipped his way back to her mouth. She was certain her knickers were soaking through to her slacks now.

"Mione, you there?" Ron's voice called out from the fireplace. She squeaked and pushed Charlie off of her, pulling a cushion in front of her to cover her chest.

"Blimey! Do you have a bloke over?!" Her nostrils flared at the shock in his voice.

"So what if I do?" she snapped, eyes darting over the room in search of her blouse.

Charlie caught on and handed it to her, keeping out of Ron's line of sight.

"I...uh… is now a bad time?" he stammered.

"You've already interrupted things, might as well tell me why you're flooing," she sighed in exasperation.

"Sorry, I just wanted you to be one of the first to know. I proposed to Marilyn and she's accepted." Hermione let out a squeal of delight and ran to the fireplace, yanking her top back on.

"Oh, Ron, that's wonderful!"

"Yeah, it is isn't it?" he smiled widely and sighed dreamily.

"I can't wait to hear more about it. Just…" she spotted Charlie pulling his shirt back on out of the corner of her eye and frowned.

"Not tonight?" Ron finished for her.

"I'll floo you tomorrow?" she asked, distracted. She didn't hear Ron's response before he ended the call.

Hermione huffed in annoyance at the interruption, looking from the now empty floo to Charlie preparing to leave. She all but ran across the room.

"Charlie…" she started, apologetically.

"S'alright, love. It happens."

"You don't have to go," she whispered, her confidence shaken at how easily he was able to walk away from her after seeming so enthusiastic. He searched her face for a moment before leaning forward and gently kissing her forehead.

"You don't owe me anything just because we got interrupted. We can always meet up later like we planned. And I should head back to mine. If Ron hasn't already tried to floo me, he will soon," he explained.

Before she could respond he disapparated, leaving her wound up in only the way he seemed able to. She groaned and threw herself onto the couch, even more frustrated from the lack of release than she'd been when the day began.


	9. Chapter 9: Heaven in Hiding

**AN:** Closer to the two-week mark seems to be happening despite my best efforts. I didn't have time to fully edit this time and will come back to clean up anything I missed in the initial pass. Just know that this fic isn't abandoned and when things calm down more schedule-wise the frequency will pick up again. Title is the Halsey song.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Edited for grammar and formatting 8/26/18**

 **Heaven in Hiding**

As the time for their originally scheduled meeting approached, Hermione was suddenly nervous. Being with Charlie had never made her nervous before, but Ron's interruption had thrown her for a loop. She knew she'd have to talk to Ron again later and be a supportive friend, but right now all she could think about was his older brother. She paced her cabin, tugging at her clothes and inspecting her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She'd never cared how she looked before, but something felt different about tonight. She wanted to do something special to surprise Charlie in a good way after earlier. That's when she remembered the bottom drawer of her dresser. The one she hadn't opened since moving to Romania.

She bit her lip in anticipation as she slid it open and carefully pulled out the garments inside. She couldn't remember exactly why she and Ginny had decided to go on a lingerie shopping spree, but she was grateful they'd done so. This would be a surprise Charlie was sure to enjoy. She'd never worn any of it, even though it would occasionally flit across her mind. She handled the silk and lace with care, examining each piece and trying to select what she thought he might enjoy. It would have to be something he wouldn't notice under her normal clothing, something he could find as he undressed her.

One thing she'd learned about Charlie is that he enjoyed a more hands-on experience in undressing her, not being a big fan of strip teases and too impatient to let her remove her clothing alone. She was fairly certain he'd take her with most of her clothing still on if he wasn't such a fan of seeing her naked. The thought sent a jolt through her knickers, oddly excited by the thought of him being too in a hurry to shag her to let her take her clothes off. That could wait for another time. Tonight she wanted him to unwrap her like a present and see something he wasn't used to.

She picked a grey lace bustier and matching knickers, debating the garter belt and stockings at the bottom of the drawer. If she was going for it, she may as well be all in. She smirked as she checked her reflection in the mirror. This was not a version of herself she was accustomed to, but she liked what she saw. She dabbed on a tiny bit of citrus perfume behind her ears and between her breasts, knowing the scent was Charlie's favourite. She took a deep breath and pulled her normal clothing back over the rest of it. Knowing what was underneath helped restore her confidence a bit. She wound her hair into a messy bun and applied a light dusting of makeup before deciding she was as ready as she'd ever be and apparated to Charlie's cabin.

She was met with the unmistakable sound of the Weird Sisters blaring through the cabin. She laughed as she turned the corner from the hallway and saw Charlie dancing and singing along by himself in the middle of the living room. Her laugh startled him and he jumped slightly, turning to turn down the wireless on his mantle.

"You're early." He blushed slightly.

"I couldn't wait to see you." She admitted, crossing to close the distance between them. He leaned over and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her.

"You smell like oranges." He sighed into her hair, making no move to release her.

"I know you like that perfume…" she smiled against his chest, breathing in the warm earthy smell that she associated with him after long days of work.

"Sorry for taking off so quickly earlier. It was all a bit...odd. Having Ron pop up like that…"

"I understand. It's okay. You know he and I are definitely done right? That's the first he's flooed me in ages…"

"I know. It's still weird though. Knowing that he had you first… it puts me on guard a little." He was sheepish in his admission, releasing her and taking her hand in his.

"He may have had me first, Charlie, but no one has ever made me feel the way you do." She whispered, her eyes boring into his.

"And how is that?" he smirked at her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"My whole world explodes when I'm with you. Into one billion sizzling stars spinning out of control. It's the most amazing thing I've ever felt." Her voice went husky as he stepped closer to her, putting his hands on her hips to kiss her. He was gentler than usual, taking his time and leaning his forehead against hers when he was done.

"This doesn't feel so casual anymore." He swallowed hard, the words barely audible.

"Do you want it to be?"

"No. I have no idea why I thought it could just be sex… Wishful thinking I guess. If you weren't up for something more, maybe I could have just this…" he kissed her again, sliding his tongue into her mouth as she sighed.

"This complicates things, doesn't it?" she pulled back from him, running her hands up and down his forearms where he still held her.

"No more than sneaking around until you've passed your probation period." he chuckled lightly.

"I can't believe I start the program on Monday. It feels like it's all come up so soon…"

"You're going to be amazing." He smiled and kissed her forehead, pulling her toward the couch.

"Picking up where we left off?" she teased as she kicked off her shoes.

"Maybe…" he teased back, not picking up the threads of conversation they'd started. Relationships and work could wait a little while longer.

"I have a surprise for you." She smirked as she straddled him where he sat.

"Oh?" his eyes lit up with excitement.

"You'll have to unwrap me to see it." She cocked an eyebrow at him, taking his hands and guiding them to the buttons on her shirt.

"I think that can be arranged." He growled as his fingers made quick work of the buttons, revealing the bustier to him. He groaned in appreciation, tracing his fingers over the pattern of the lace.

"I didn't even know you owned lingerie…" he breathed, sliding her shirt the rest of the way off and kissing her collarbone.

She moaned as he sucked and licked at the skin there, hands roaming over the lace and bare skin of her abdomen in turn. She rocked against the erection forming in his trousers, bracing herself on his shoulders. He growled and pulled her onto her back on the couch, hovering over her as he pulled his own shirt off. Her chest heaved in anticipation as he popped open the button on her jeans.

"You're going to be the death of me." He groaned when he saw the rest of her clad in the lace and stockings.

"Now you know how I feel…" she pulled him to her, popping open his fly and pushing off his jeans as she kissed down his throat. She explored his muscles with her hands, the hardness never ceasing to excite her. The heat of his skin under her touch lit a fire inside her core. She wrapped her stocking clad legs around his waist and arched into him with a small cry.

With a "pop" she realised he'd moved them to his bedroom.

"Not so fast, love, I intend to explore every millimetre of my present." He growled in her ear, pinning her wrists above her head with a sticking charm. He hovered over her for a moment, eyes dilated with want, before kissing her heatedly.

He kissed down her neck and across her collarbone before burying his head in the cleavage created by the lingerie. He groaned at the scent of citrus, thinking she'd thought of everything to drive him wild. He licked at the swells of flesh and left a large red mark on the top of her left breast. He didn't linger too long, kissing the exposed skin of her abdomen and dipping his tongue into her bellybutton. He heard and felt her breathing increase as he blew softly across the skin, tickling her without touching.

"No fair…" she breathed. He smirked and ran his tongue along the waistband of her knickers before skipping the area altogether in favor of running his hands up and down her stockinged legs.

"How did you know I liked stockings?" he asked, crawling over her to kiss her again.

"I didn't." She admitted.

"Lucky me then…" he nibbled her earlobe lightly, dipping a hand underneath her waistband as he breathed heavily into the shell of her ear, making her moan. He circled her clit, ignoring the pooling wetness below it.

She arched and squirmed against his hand, desperately craving insertion to accompany the delicious way he manipulated her over sensitive nub. He brought her over the edge not long after, ignoring her pleas for more. A strangled cry escaped her lips as she came down. He took the opportunity to remove his shorts and settle himself over her, pushing the lace aside and burying himself inside her.

"Sweet holy hell…" she moaned as he plunged in and out of her, the scratch of the lace against her clit working her up all over again. She wrapped her legs around his waist again, noting that he seemed to like the feel of the stockings against his skin. She desperately wished she could run her hands over him, but he still had her wrists locked above her head. All she could do was lock eyes with him as he sped up the pace and rocked roughly against her.

The overstimulation exploded into a second orgasm much quicker than she anticipated, forcing her to clench around his length. He groaned and spilled inside her seconds later, releasing the sticking charm and wrapping her arms around him as he slid out of her and brought his lips to hers. She explored the sweat-slicked skin of his back before cupping his face in her hands.

"Good surprise?" she asked in a whisper.

"Great surprise." He corrected, kissing her gently.

"You didn't even take all my clothes off this time…" she teased.

"It's the lace. And the stockings. They feel good against the skin," he explained with a small smile.

"Noted." She sighed and nuzzled into him as he settled down beside her.

"Rest for a bit and then round two?" he asked, pulling a blanket up over them.

"Sounds like a plan." She yawned and closed her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10: Dive

**AN:** I'm back! Sorry, I've been gone so long, unfortunately, the real world got a bit too real and anything that wasn't survival based had to take a backseat for a while. This is a short scene just to ease me back in. Chapter title is the Ed Sheeran song.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or any of its related properties.

 **Edited for grammar and formatting 8/26/18**

 **Dive**

Hermione woke to the feel of featherlight kisses across her clavicle. She sighed and moved her hands to play through Charlie's unbound hair as he made his way up her throat to her jawline. She moaned softly as he nibbled on her flesh, not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to send little electric chills through her body. When he reached her ear he brushed her curls out of the way before whispering so low it sent shivers from her scalp down to her toes.

"You're amazing. You know that right? Just… absolutely amazing…" he turned her head to him and kissed her gently on the lips, pulling back slightly to look in her eyes.

"What?" she asked in confusion, brows knitting with worry.

"You've got me feeling some kind of way and I have no idea what to do with it," he admitted, propping himself on one elbow and leaning over to search her face.

"Just let it be. Whatever this is, whatever it's going to be… Neither of us was expecting it. Let's just enjoy it." She smiled softly up at him, purposefully locking her eyes onto his. He searched her eyes for several long moments and seemed to find something there, though it was unclear to her what it may have been. She worried her lip nervously for a moment before he pulled it out from between her teeth and kissed her soundly.

She deepened the kiss and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, coaxing him to switch places with her as their breathing quickened. He flipped her easily, positioning her just over his hips. She caught his hands in hers and ran them over her ribs and down to her thighs before guiding them up his own body to above his head. He chuckled softly, unsure of what she was up to.

"My turn to play…" she teased, wordlessly calling her wand to her and magically binding his arms over his head.

"Merlin, 'Mione…" he groaned as she slid herself down his body and took his member in her hand.

She teased his cock with her lips and tongue, not taking it in her mouth just yet, as she slowly pumped with her fist. She knew he liked to tease and hoped he liked to be teased just as much. Given the moans and laboured breaths escaping his lips, she was fairly certain she'd made the right call. She slicked his precum over as much as she could before straddling him, skipping the blow job he had obviously been expecting by the vaguely disappointed look on his face.

"What?" she teased, adjusting her position over him ever so slightly as he ran his eyes over her. He raised one eyebrow as she slid her knickers to the side and lowered herself achingly slowly onto him. She could have sworn his eyes rolled back into his head momentarily as he arched into her. She couldn't be sure, as her own eyes had closed at the satisfaction of being filled. She rode him slowly, enjoying the way she could control how much the lace of her knickers rubbed against both of them.

It wasn't long before she could feel her orgasm building. She locked her eyes on his as she sat up straighter and slid her fingers down the front of her knickers to rub her clit as she continued to ride him. He all but growled as he tried to buck up harder into her. She quickened the pace for several moments before she fell forward onto his chest and tried to steady herself as her body trembled and shook harder than she expected, keeping eye contact with him for as long as she could as she came. After the waves of pleasure had subsided she carefully sat up again, catching his eyes again. They burned brightly at her, still filled with lust and the need for release. She caught her breath without moving off of him, feeling his still hard erection twitch inside her.

After she was certain her body had not actually turned to jelly, she carefully removed herself from atop him and released his hands from the binding charm. He had her pinned beneath him in seconds with an almost feral groan, removing the lacy garment from her for the first time. He plunged into her, hitching her legs over his hips with lingering strokes over her stockings. He drove into her hard, making her call out his name involuntarily. He took her harder than he ever had before, the ferocity exciting her more than she would have guessed it would. A few particularly hard thrusts later and he was collapsing on top of her with her name escaping his lips. The sudden burst inside her sent her over the edge again, her cry getting swallowed in the sudden kiss he planted on her.

As the afterglow began to wash over them she could feel his heartbeat hammering against her chest. She wondered if he could feel hers too.


	11. Chapter 11: Walking the Wire

**AN:** This was meant to come out Friday, but the editing process took longer than anticipated. From here onward Tasting Fire will update every Friday, which means a double update this week! Next chapter starts Hermione's dragon training, I know many of you have been asking about it! Thank you so much for your patience with me! I know it's frustrating. I really appreciate how supportive everyone who messaged/reviewed has been. The last six months have been a rollercoaster. Things seem to be, mercifully, slowing down and allowing me more time to actually write and get things edited! Chapter title is the song by Imagine Dragons.

 **Trigger Warning:** predatory male behaviour

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or any of its related properties.

 **Walking the Wire**

They lay in the afterglow, breathing hard and fast with twin hearts hammering in the dark. It was still late, Hermione was pretty sure, sunrise was still a few hours off yet. She wondered for a few moments if this was all a dream. Unconsciously, she pinched her thigh to be sure this was all real. The slight sting of it brought a slight smile to her lips.

"You're not dreaming." he murmured at her. She turned her head and opened her eyes to find Charlie watching her closely.

"It all feels like a dream. Like everything has happened so quickly. You changed my whole life in a night. Or a series of them, really…" she felt her cheeks flush when he didn't immediately respond.

"Charlie?" she whispered across the mattress to him, unable to let the silence take over again.

"Hmmm?" he pushed himself onto his elbow, realising she needed his full attention now, sleepiness be damned.

"What are we going to do come Monday?"

"What do you mean?" his eyes popped all the way open, a look of concern knitting his brows.

"You said we couldn't sneak around anymore during my probationary period. Are we going to get to spend any time alone together?" she sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, feeling her nakedness in the moment.

"The honest answer is we really shouldn't be alone together much at all. BUT I'm willing to bet that Simon, Mariana, and Alana would be willing to help with that. It's not like they don't already know you and I are sleeping together."

"Is that all we're doing?" she asked after another prolonged silence that felt heavier than perhaps it should.

"I don't think that's all it has to be. Not that we've done much else…" he sat up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back down onto the bed and onto his chest.

"If you want more, Hermione, we can have more. I know I'd like more. I told you before this doesn't feel so casual anymore. Maybe it's because we're so physically good together or, just maybe, it's because there is more to this than great orgasms… when your probation is over I'd like to take you on a date. A real one. And then many more after that. You changed my life too, you know? I haven't wanted to be with someone in a more than physical way in a very long time." he carefully combed his fingers through her tangle of hair, gently working out the knots.

"Oh?" her whisper almost like a breath.

" If you'll have me, that is…"

Hermione leaned up and took his face in her hands as she kissed him sweetly. He kissed her back, tangling his hands in the hair he'd been so cautiously trying to tame only seconds before.

"Of course I'll have you." she leaned her forehead against his to catch her breath, not sure she could handle a round three.

"You'll tell me if you change your mind?" For the first time, she heard fear and indecision in Charlie Weasley's voice.

"I won't change my mind."

"But if you do?" he pressed.

"If I do, I'll tell you. I won't wait. I didn't think I wanted a relationship when we started this. I really wanted to just have something informal, but now… now I think I was lying to myself to make my loneliness less heavy."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean to say is, I didn't think I could get anyone who might want to be with just me as I am and not with the reputation or the legend that surrounds me. It was easier to try and be what the worst of the rumours said." she swallowed back the lump in her throat, not wanting to make herself cry.

"You know you're an amazing woman, don't you? And not just because of the shenanigans you got up to with Potter and my brother. You're brilliant and kind and funny… you've got a laugh that makes other people smile and a way with all living things that makes me think you'll be a natural at this job…" the last of his words were muffled by her hand suddenly clapping over his mouth.

"Charlie, stop. I don't want compliments right now. I don't feel like crying and if you keep going you'll make me cry." she pulled her hand away and kissed him softly before placing her head back on his chest. He grumbled slightly as he tightened his grip around her, but didn't protest.

"How about we try for a couple more hours sleep and then figure out what it is we want to do with the day?" he suggested, giving her a light squeeze.

"That sounds nice." she nuzzled into his and tried not to think about all the things that scared her as she closed her eyes.

* * *

Tonight she would have killed for a teasing older brother to break the ever building ball of tension in her gut. Simon had dropped by midday, interrupting the lazy Sunday they'd decided to spend in bed, to say there was a bonfire planned for later that evening and suggested she come along to meet some of the team she'd be working with in a more social setting before official introductions the next day. She didn't know how she was going to make it through the night without having a meltdown. Charlie had sent her home shortly thereafter to collect herself and get ready for the party, knowing that she'd want some alone time to figure out how she wanted to present herself to these new people. She'd spent most of the afternoon digging through her closet and pulling out various options of what she could wear, which she knew was very out of character. Sure, she'd agonized an hour or so before an event about what to wear, but she'd never spent the entirety of an afternoon piling her wardrobe on her bedroom floor. She noted with a sense of horror that this was happening more frequently of late. Something about the people and this place made her care about how she presented herself. She wasn't sure she was a fan of that notion.

In the end, she'd caved under pressure and asked Alana for help. If it were most any other gathering she would have asked Mariana, who had an impeccable sense of style. For meeting the tamers for the first time, Alana seemed like the smarter choice. That's how the two of them had ended up standing in the middle of her living room with glasses of wine debating the merits of different shirts.

"Go with the low cut black one. I know you think it's too revealing, but it's really not. And, trust me on this, with field injuries and crazy hot conditions we deal with sometimes they'll see it all at some point anyway." She smirked at Hermione's shocked reaction.

"Don't we wear dragonhides to help protect us? Like the gloves Jan gave me?"

"Sometimes, it depends on what you're doing. Dragonhide is heavy and can be hard to maneuver in. None of us wear it unless we know we're about to do something particularly dangerous. For the most part, you won't want the extra weight even if it makes things a bit simpler."

"Wouldn't a feather-light charm help with that?" Hermione furrowed her brows as she stripped to her bra and pulled the black top on.

"We try to avoid unnecessary magic around the dragons, they're sensitive to it. You'll start to learn specifically which ones are worth the risk and which ones aren't once you've been in the field a bit."

Hermione nodded as she took a few deep breaths. It was now or never if she was going to get herself to this bonfire.

The sun was just setting over the mountains as they made their way to where several people were sending sparks at a pile of wood to start the bonfire. Hermione noticed they'd situated everything inside a ring of large stones to keep the fire contained. A collection of stones, logs, and blankets provided seating around three sides with the fourth opening onto the empty, stone scattered field beyond. She was glad for the jumper she'd grabbed at the last moment as the temperature had dropped significantly.

She spotted Charlie speaking to Simon and a man she had never met before. She made her way toward them, hands shoved into her pockets as she sidled up beside her friends, Alana by her side

"Hello." she managed to squeak out, feeling the new man's eyes on her.

"Hello, you must be Hermione, yeah? I'm Colin." She took the hand he offered and gave it a firm shake, smiling when she saw the twinkle in his eye. It reminded her a bit of Fred and George. He was tall and very slim, bordering on gangly. He had a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. His sandy coloured hair was cropped short and neat, the opposite of Charlie's thick, red, ponytail.

"Colin was one of the new recruits a few years ago. He's the best with the Vipertooths. Henry will probably have you work with him at some point to learn the best way to approach and calm the surly bastards." Alana explained, clapping a hand on Colin's back. This started him into a mini-lecture on what was clearly his favourite dragon breed.

Hermione missed most of it, getting pulled repeatedly from the conversation to meet the over growing crowd of people. It became obvious fairly quickly that most of the people there were from town and invited guests of the handful of tamers. She wondered how they'd been able to swing permission for such a large gathering from Henry, he was notorious for not wanting extra people on the reserve. She suspected the event may have been planned well before her acceptance into the program and that they'd added getting to meet her onto the agenda after the fact.

She was having a hard time keeping track of which people were tamers and which weren't when it came to the men. She recognized a few from the infirmary and from around the reserve, a good half dozen were regulars at Horntails from in town. She was fairly certain Andrei, Peter, and Corvus were fellow tamers though they'd been introduced to her quickly and then proceeded to ignore her. She wasn't entirely surprised, knowing that it was going to be an uphill battle getting them on her side. It occurred to her that she hadn't asked Charlie how many tamers were currently on site, the numbers could easily range from a half dozen into the low fifties depending on the time of year and what was being done.

"You look a bit overwhelmed." She jumped at the foreign voice coming from over her shoulder. She turned and came face to face with a man she recognized from Horntails. He was one of the fiddle players she had listed to on a few occasions. Not much taller than herself, he had lightly tanned skin and striking green eyes that glowed like the blonde of his shaggy hair in the bonfire light.

"Just a bit. I'm meant to be meeting all my new coworkers tonight. I start the tamer program tomorrow morning. I'm having a difficult time discerning who here is actually from the reserve and who isn't." She explained.

"I'm Brendan. I think I've seen you down the pub before. I play music there sometimes…"

"I've seen you. You play the fiddle. You're one of the Irishmen that buy the dragon dung off us to make fertilizer." He smiled in surprise at her interruption.

"I am indeed. And who might you be?"

"Hermione." She answered, purposefully not giving any biographical information that may connect her to her past.

"Fancy a bit of a walk? Give you a little break from all the new faces?"

"Sure. Alright." She noted that Simon was wandering off with Mariana in the direction of his cabin. She shook her head with a small laugh as she finished the beer someone had handed her over an hour ago. While most of the party had been drinking heavily, she'd been nursing the one drink for hours.

"So, dragon taming huh? How did you get into that?" Brendan asked as he started out toward the far end of the enclosure where there were boulders and felled trees scattered to act as cover and perches as needed when it had been used to house dragons.

"I've been here in a more academic capacity for months now. I decided I'd get more out of studying them by being hands on. They really are magnificent creatures and no two breeds are exactly alike."

"What are you hoping to learn from them?" He slowly steered them to the far side of one of the boulders, putting them out of her line of sight with the bonfire. She felt her stomach knot in warning and subconsciously moved her hand over her wand.

"Whatever I can. They discover new things about dragons all the time. Especially now that taming them is getting more advanced. Romania is the best in the world for it, really…"

Hermione turned to see that Brendan was watching her almost predatorily, it set the hairs on the back of her neck on end. Before she knew what was happening his lips were on hers. There was a need to dominate in the way he moved his mouth over hers that wasn't entirely pleasant. She tried to ease the pressure and pull away, thinking he was just over exuberant and misreading her intentions in agreeing to walk with him alone. Her heartbeat quickened as his hands grasped her waist tighter than was comfortable. He sucked her bottom lip between his teeth and pulled as she moved her hands to try and push him off. He shoved his tongue in her mouth, not asking for entry as she would have expected. She turned away, not liking the sudden intrusion. Instead of stopping he began to kiss down the column of her neck, pulling her collar down to latch roughly onto her collarbone.

"Ow! Brendan, stop." She stumbled backward, extricating herself from his arms.

"What's wrong?" He startled at her sudden rebuff, tripping over his own feet in his haste to right himself when she'd pushed him as hard as she could.

"You're being too rough. I don't like it. And I'm not interested in snogging you." She adjusted her jumper, wincing as it brushed her collarbone. She knew there would be a bruise there later and she wouldn't be surprised if there were teeth marks. She stiffened when he crossed closer to her again.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just like things a bit rough is all..." he argued.

"I want to go back to the others," she started to cross back, but his hand caught her wrist.

"Come on, please? I'll be more gentle…" he begged.

"I'd really rather not. As I said, I'm not interested," Hermione carefully began to reach for her wand, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Hey, everything okay over here?" Charlie's voice was dark as he appeared around the other side of the boulder. His eyes quickly taking inventory of the situation, flicking between Hermione's wand arm and the grip Brendan had on her wrist.

"I think you'd better let go of her, mate…" Charlie started, moving to act as a barrier between them.

"Everything's alright, Charlie. I got a little brutish is all. We were just talking." Brendan argued.

"Hermione?" Charlie asked, keeping his eyes on the other man.

"He got a bit rough, I was just telling him I'd like to go back to the party." She tried to make her voice firm, but a slight tremor betrayed her fear.

"I don't know who brought you, but I think it's time you left." Charlie growled at the other man, fists clenching and unclenching. He dropped her wrist and with a last scowl at Charlie apparated away.

Charlie guided her through the dark back toward the distant light of the fire. She had not realized how far away they'd actually gotten from the group. She shivered at her own foolishness and shook her head.

"Hold on…" Charlie stopped and removed his dragonhide jacket, draping it around her shoulders. She didn't correct his assumption that she was cold, not wanting to admit how scared she'd actually been. He tried to catch her eyes, raising her chin so he could see her face better.

"Are you okay?" He asked, softly.

"I'm fine, just feeling foolish. He stopped when I pushed him off and told him to. I didn't know that was why he was walking he over here or think he was going to be that rough. I was trying to leave when he grabbed my wrist. I don't know if he would have done anything, but I…" the words tumbled out in a deluge of anxiety and choked back sobs. He grabbed the top of her arms in an effort to steady her.

"Hey, hey, hey… It's okay. You would have hexed him. I saw you reaching for your wand." He interrupted.

"I would have done if I needed to." Her voice was suddenly firm, her jaw clenched in seriousness.

"You're smarter than most witches, keeping your wand so close instead of in your purse or back pocket. Moody would be proud." Charlie teased. She hiccuped a laugh in response as she took several deep breaths

"I'm not sure who brought him on the reserve, but he doesn't work here. He won't be allowed back after whatever he just tried to pull back there..." Charlie trailed off.

"I don't want to cause any trouble for anyone, Charlie. Please don't make a big deal of this, nothing happened!" A different kind of fear filled her voice now.

"Hermione, stop for a second and think about it. If that was Mariana back there instead of you, would you want her to make a big deal about it?" Charlie asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Hermione bit her lip in thought for a moment, her hand unconsciously going back to the sore spot on her chest.

"What happened there?" He nodded to where she was rubbing.

"He bit me." She whispered.

"If Mariana came to you and told you that, would you want him allowed back here?" he continued to press the issue.

"You're right. I wouldn't want him allowed back here. Even if nothing happened, he clearly has boundary issues." she sighed in resignation.

"Right then, I'll have a quiet word with Henry tomorrow and let him handle it. I doubt Brendan will make another appearance tonight." he pulled his jacket closer around her.

"Why were you wandering so far out there? Not that I'm upset you found us…" Hermione asked.

"I was trying to see where you'd gotten to. I thought you might have left with Simon, but Alana said he'd gone off with Mariana. I know we're supposed to be keeping things quiet, Hermione, but the guy was sizing you up all night and I was getting a bad vibe from him. When Colin said he'd seen you go off with him I went looking for you. Whatever else we are to each other, you're my friend first and I look out for my friends." Charlie explained.

"Well, thank you for coming after me. I guess I need to learn what to look out for. I feel utterly foolish at the moment."

"You were overwhelmed. There are way too many people you don't know and all this pressure to meet your coworkers. And I've been keeping my distance instead of making introductions because I didn't want to step on your toes. You looked a bit like a deer in headlights at first when we left you to mingle. I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner." he sighed in frustration.

"You aren't angry with me?"

"What? Why would I be?" he uncrossed his arms and pulled her into an embrace.

"He kissed me and shoved his tongue in my mouth. If we're being exclusive I shouldn't be kissing anyone else…"

"Hermione. Stop. You're a smart woman and that was a profoundly stupid statement. You didn't do anything wrong. He was an aggressive arse. End of story," he tilted her chin up to face him and kissed her gently.

"Will you walk me home? I'm not really feeling up to rejoining the party. And, frankly, this whole evening has not been particularly well executed in terms of introductions. There must be three dozen people here and I can't make heads or tails of who works on the reservation and who doesn't."

"Of course. Let's just say our goodbyes and I'll take you home. You can meet everyone properly tomorrow. This who night was not handled particularly well. I think it was originally meant to be a birthday party for someone, that I can't figure out who… either way, it was a bad idea to try to introduce you to everyone tonight with so many extra people here. You know I'll probably have to come back though so no one gets the idea that we're sleeping together…"

"Doesn't mean you can't floo back over to mine once you're done for the evening though, does it?" she stared up at him mischievously, the knot in her stomach dissipating the longer she spent in his arms.

"I suppose it doesn't," he smirked down at her before letting her go and making their way back to the others.


	12. Chapter 12: Whatever It Takes

**AN:** Hello! Here is this week's second update as was promised. After today this fic will update each Friday. When I can, I'll throw in bonus updates during the week. =) Title is the Imagine Dragons song.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Whatever It Takes**

Hermione woke to Charlie's voice calling to her softly through the darkness. She sat up in her bed and found him standing in the door of her bedroom, boots in hand as he prepared to tiptoe into her room.

"Sorry it took so long, love. I got pulled in to speak with Henry for a few minutes…"

"What happened?" she sat up in alarm, reaching a hand out to pull him onto the mattress beside her.

"Alana was on the warpath after finding out why Brendan was asked to leave. I had to all but throw her over my shoulder to keep her from going into town and hexing the bollocks off the idiot."

"How did Henry find out?" Hermione suppressed a giggle at the thought of the feisty tamer pursuing the arse through town.

"When I wouldn't let her go kill him she stormed into Henry's cabin instead screaming worse than Mrs. Black's portrait…"

"Oh dear… that bad?" Hermione couldn't help but laugh through the instinctive grimace.

"It was something to see, that's for sure." Charlie sighed heavily as he pulled her to his side, breathing the scent of her hair deep into his lungs.

"What did Henry say?"

"He's put a permanent ban on the ward markers. Brendan won't be able to get in again, even accompanied by someone from the reserve. Only Henry will be able to bring him to the property."

"Is that going to cause problems for anyone else? Wasn't he here as someone's guest?"

"Shouldn't. No one would admit to bringing him. I think it may have been one of the medical staff. If I'm honest, I'm more concerned about what Henry was able to work out…" Charlie leaned crosswise across the mattress and tugged Hermione down with him, coaxing her to nuzzle into his side.

"Work out?"

"He… erm… knows."

"Knows?"

"He knows about you and me."

"What? How?!" She squirmed out of his hold and stared at him, wide-eyed with concern.

"Your glamour charms need some work. And, apparently, so do mine…" Charlie winced in embarrassment. She'd never seen him blush until now.

"Oh no! I suppose he saw the marks on both of us and figured out the rest from there?" She let him pull her back down next to him, groaning at their carelessness.

"Something like that, yeah."

"What does that mean for me starting the program?"

"Well, he's taking my word that I decided to recommend you before anything happened between us. He's right miffed though. Nothing will happen to you. You'll get to start the program tomorrow as planned. I, however, am on cleaning detail for the next three months as punishment for not telling him in advance. I'm also not allowed to train you unsupervised or make determinations about your continuation in the program. Everything will have to go through him or Alana." He started to run his fingers through her hair in a way that she realised soothed him more than it did her, not that she would have stopped him doing it.

"Alana?"

"Mmmhmm. She offered. When she was done exploding about Brendan she stayed to seethe in the corner while Henry chewed me out for being a shite boyfriend."

"Hold on a moment, he was lecturing you about being a bad boyfriend?" Hermione chuckled.

"Stop giggling!" he swatted her lightly before adjusting his grip on her and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Sorry! I just don't understand why he'd be lecturing you about how you carry on with women…"

"He fancies himself a second father for all the tamers. In this case, he's upset because I didn't knock the guy's teeth to defend your honour. He can be a bit… old-fashioned. Man is forward thinking on most everything, but courtship he's mired in the past."

"That's one way to put it…"

"Either way, he agrees we should keep everything under wraps until your probation is over. He doesn't care what we do behind closed doors, but we can't be seen to be dating publicly. I'm also to make sure no one goes too easy on you. If the secret gets out, there can't be even a question of favouritism going on."

"I understand. Though I didn't think you were going to let anyone go easy on me to begin with."

"Honestly? I wasn't." She heard the smirk in his voice and pinched his ribs in punishment, eliciting a surprised squeak.

"So now what?" Hermione asked after a short silence.

"Now… now I'd very much like to hold you and know you're alright. I know you thought I was going to come over here and take your clothes off, but everything that happened tonight…"

"Charlie, it's okay… I'm okay." She nuzzled even deeper into his embrace, taking in the scent of him as she tried to prove to him she was whole.

"He hurt you. I could have stopped it. When I saw him hovering…"

"Charlie. Stop. Neither of us could have known this guy was such a creep. He didn't get a chance to do anything serious and I had my wand. If he'd made another move on me I would have hexed him into oblivion."

"I know you would have. I still wish I'd been able to get to you before he touched you. I don't like the idea of other people touching you…"

"The only person I want touching me like that is you. And I know you'd never intentionally hurt me like that. Let's just try and get some sleep, alright? I've got a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah. You really do." She could hear the smile in his voice as he made to shift them both the right way round on the bed, securely tucking her into his embrace.

She let herself sink into the warmth of him, ignoring the flicker of fear at the memory of what had caused the uncharacteristic protectiveness. She wasn't used to this sort of attention from a partner. Ron, in particular, had always assumed she could hold her own. Not that he'd been wrong, of course. It was still nice to have someone worry about her in that way. She honestly didn't know how she would have handled things if Brendan had pushed any further. There was a good chance she would have seriously maimed or injured the man. There was something sweet about the fact that Charlie wanted to protect her and may have been pushed to strike the jerk. For now, she let the iciness of fear get washed away by the closeness of him wrapped around her as she slid off into sleep.

* * *

Charlie wasn't there when she woke up. In his place was a neatly folded scrap of parchment.

"H,

I'm on feeding duty this morning on top of the cleaning rotation. Henry will likely have you shadow medical rounds with me later today if I don't see you before then. You're going to be fantastic. Take a breath and try to enjoy it. You only get one first day working with dragons. You'll life will never be the same.

Love,

C."

Her heart stuttered at the closing. It felt entirely too soon for them to be using that word. But, all at once, it felt so totally right. She carefully tucked the note into the frame of her mirror so she could see it as she got ready for her first day. She didn't overly fuss about what to wear, fully expecting to get filthy dirty. She went for the sturdiest jeans and boots she owned and a shirt she wasn't overly attached to, just in case got ruined.

After a quick breakfast, she made her best attempt at plaiting her hair and headed out the door with her dragonhide gloves tucked into her back pocket and a water bottle in hand.

Henry was waiting for her outside, she startled slightly at the sight of him. She had not expected the older man to collect her.

"Morning Hermione, no need to fear, I realised I had not asked you to meet me anywhere, in particular, this morning and thought I might just collect you myself instead. We've got an all-hands meeting this morning to address some of the issues from last night. I trust Charlie told you of the… special rules the two of you will have to follow?"

"He did. I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner what was going on. I was afraid you wouldn't let me complete the program with Charlie and I were together."

"Just be careful. I've trusted Charlie with my life around these dragons, I'm going to trust that he didn't lie to me about how you got your recommendation for the program."

"I swear he's telling the truth. He'd suggested I join the program before anything happened. I wouldn't have let him recommended me at all if I thought our seeing each other made any sort of difference."

"I believe you. Don't make me regret it though. If something goes wrong between the two of you, I don't want you disappearing into the ether. There's something special about you, Hermione Granger, and I intend to find out what it is and how you can help with these great beasties." He shook his finger at her in warning, though she noted the ghost of a smirk playing at his lips. He wasn't as angry as she feared he might be.

"I won't mess this up Henry, I swear."

"Good. Let's get inside then and start the process of getting you trained, shall we?" he motioned her through the door of the on-call cabin. She blushed at the memory of the last time she'd been in the place.

She slipped in behind Henry and saw the kitchen table had been charmed to allow everyone to sit around it as they waited for the rest of the group to assemble. She took a seat between Alana and Simon, avoiding the magnetic urge to cross the room and sit next to Charlie. He caught her eye briefly but said nothing. She nodded in greeting, but no more than she had to the friends she was now seated between.

"Good morning everyone. I'm going to get right to it and I don't want to hear any moaning about what I'm about to say. After the events of last night's bonfire, as I'm sure has already made the gossip rounds this morning, we will no longer be allowing late night or overnight guests from in town without prior consent. The individual who laid hands on the young lady has a permanent ban from the reserve. I remind you that you are responsible for the behaviour of your guests when you bring them to the property. I've had a hard enough time getting women into the program, I don't need to chase them away by bringing around potential threats to their safety. Is that understood?" Henry sounded much angrier than Hermione had anticipated. She was impressed by the immediate group response in agreement with his decree. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

"Now, I should take away your use of the old pens for your parties- but I'm not going to do that. I remember what it was like to be young and separated from so much of the world. You need a place to blow off steam and the disused pens are a safe place for that. Charlie, as senior tamer, is taking on the responsibility for last night's shenanigans. I know it wasn't his party, nor do I care who was meant to be in charge, you might want to talk to Mr. Weasley privately and see what you might be able to do to help him on his additional cleaning details." Hermione couldn't help but sneak a glance at the redhead. He had his arms crossed over his chest and his face was unreadable. He looked every bit the hard arse dragon tamer she heard he was.

"Moving on to more positive news. I'm sure most of you had the pleasure to meet our newest recruit last night. I ask that you give her the same courtesy you would a tamer we want to keep. I know how you lot can be and I'll not have you scaring this one off. Jan was particularly impressed with this one when she was in research, let's not give her a reason to run back to a desk job. Hermione, if you would join me at the head of the table for a moment?"

Hermione swallowed hard as she made her way toward her new boss, keeping her spine ramrod straight and her shoulders back. After all the warnings she'd received about this being a boys' club, she wasn't about to show them any fear.

"I want you to get a good look at your new coworkers. Some of them you already knew and some of them you either just met or will meet today. No matter whether they like you personally or not, there is only one rule we all follow- when one of us is in danger, we're all in danger. That means they'll have your back no matter what, and it means you have to have theirs too."

"I understand. I look forward to working with you all." She noted the skeptical looks on a few of the faces.

"Right then, you lot. I'm assigning this one to Alana today while Charlie takes care of cleanup. I expect you'll mind what Alana tells you unless you want a repeat of last time." His warning was followed by a number of grumbles of a snicker from the fiery woman that was quickly becoming one of her favourite people. Without another word Henry pushed out from the table, leaving Hermione standing alone. Charlie followed him out with a slight nod in her direction.

"Come on then, Hermione. Today we're starting in the nursery. We've got an out of season clutch about to hatch. Best time to learn about the babies is when there isn't a ton of them around." Alana motioned for Hermione to join her as she exited the room. She could feel all the eyes on her as they left.

"What happened the last time?"

"You'll have to ask Corvus and Peter." Alana laughed wickedly, cracking her knuckles with an eyebrow wiggle.

"That sounds ominous."

"It was quite the scene, let me tell you. She's right though, you should ask Corvus and Peter." Simon sidled up beside them, matching their strides as they approached what Hermione thought must be the veterinary building.

"You joining us today, Simon?" Alana asked as she led the way around the back of the building to what looked like an old goat pen.

"Partner is on cleaning duty. We were supposed to answering patrol calls today, but there aren't enough hands-on site for me to take a different partner," he shrugged as he picked up a clipboard from the front of the pen and flipped through a couple pages before handing it off to Alana.

"How many hands are there right now? Isn't it getting close to mating season?" Hermione leaned against the empty pen and tried to read over Alana's shoulder as the woman all but bent in two over the rail as she read. Simon rolled his eyes in amusement at the strange little woman.

"It is. In the lead up we'll get more staff in. Most of the year it doesn't take very many people to keep this place running. We get a lot of part-timers during mating season, lots of temporary transfers from the non-breeding reserves too. Some of them you might recognize from dos at the Weasley's, some of the Wales crew have known Charlie for years. In the offseason, there is usually just over a half dozen of us, but Henry has been wanting to expand it. Right now the full-timers are me, Charlie, Alana, Corvus, Peter, Andrei, and Colin. You're technically replacing Andrei when he leaves at the end of the season. He's transferring to a reserve in America. Henry is supposed to be retired from field work now, but he steps in when we're short."

"I could have sworn there were way more people at that meeting just now…"

"There were. Mostly vet staff and a couple of our off-season part-timers. You'll meet them over time."

"Right then. Looks like the eggs will need rotating today. We're getting really close to hatch time." Alana interrupted, righting herself and sticking the clipboard under Hermione's chin to show her what she was reading.

She followed Alana into the pen, for the first time noticing the rather large nest that took up most of the back corner.

"It's spelled to keep the air around the eggs warm the same way the mum's body heat would. Occasionally, we rotate the eggs around. Partly because she would in the wild, and partly to make sure the eggs are still viable," Alana began to explain.

"Why not use an incubator?" Hermione asked, carefully taking the egg Simon handed to her.

"We don't want them too used to human things. The goal is always to let them back into the wild if we can. We like the first thing they see to be a real nest if we can't get a surrogate mum in with them. Since it's off season still and we aren't sure where these eggs came from, we can't put them in with a different female."

"Why not?"

"None of them are in heat yet, let alone ready to rear babies. They're just as likely to try and eat the hatchlings as to feed them." Hermione nodded at the explanation, carefully turning the egg around in her hands.

"How do we know if the egg is still viable?"

"This part is sort of fun. I think the Muggles do something similar with lizard eggs." Simon smiled, casting Lumos and holding the wand up underneath the egg.

"It's usually easier to see in the dark, so we usually do this part at night. If the egg is still alive we'll see veins running through it." Alana started before Simon could.

"Can we check them all later when it's dark? I think I'd like to see what they're supposed to look like..."

"Course we can." Alana smiled at her, taking the egg back from Hermione and settling it into a new position in the nest.

"Now that the eggs are rotated, we'll take you inside and walk you through the nursery layout. Since it's out of season, the veterinary staff are in the main vet building closer to the adult enclosures. Once breeding season begins they'll have staff out here around the clock. We don't actually work with the eggs too much then, beyond getting updates from the staff."

Hermione followed behind Alana into the small building that butted up against the enclosure.

"The important thing to know about all the buildings here, of course, is that they're treated to be fire resistant. This one especially since hatchlings can't control their fire-breathing when they're young. If it didn't have so many charms and wards on it to make it structurally sound and safe, there's no way we could have anything this close to a hatchling pen." Simon explained, popping himself up onto the exam table as Alana pulled a binder from atop a filing cabinet.

"In here are the records for all dragons hatched on the property. Anyone who interacts with the babies has to keep a detailed record of what they did and how the little ones are faring. This is very important so we can catch things like mouth rot, bone abnormalities, or other health problems before they become fatal. The most common is actually scale rot, but you don't see it much in hatchlings." Alana handed her the binder and let her flip through the pages.

"Do all the clutches hatch here, or do some stay with their mothers?" Hermione asked, noticing that the records she was looking at didn't mention anything about which dragon may have laid the eggs.

"Clutches that can't stay with mum or are abandoned come here. If mum is healthy enough to sit on the eggs, she gets moved to a roosting enclosure and we check up on them there. Those files are kept in the main veterinary building. Good catch there." Alana smiled at her proudly.

"Why might mum not be able to hatch the eggs, I mean other than if she'd died or abandoned the nest?"

"Some first-time mums don't take it and try to trample their own eggs. If I female gets it in her head the eggs aren't hers she'll also refuse to sit on them. They don't really feed themselves much when they're nesting either. If we've got one that's sickly or dangerously underweight we'll sometimes take the eggs so she'll eat." Simon explained.

"The only other time we might take them is with newly bonded pairs. Opaleyes have a tendency toward stomping out nests to put the females back in heat, especially if they think the clutch may not be theirs. Thankfully, we haven't had that happen in a…"

Suddenly Alana's explanation was interrupted by an angry roar outside.

"What in the…" she ran toward the door back outside, Simon close on her heels.

A large, black dragon was stomping around the pen where the eggs were kept. It was limping slightly and uneasy on its feet in general.

"Where the hell did a Hungarian Horntail come from?!" Alana hollered, charging toward the fence.

"We've got to get it out of there!" Simon sent some sort of signal sparks high into the air before running headlong at the angry animal. It was smaller than Hermione expected once she heard the breed, easily still under thirty feet long, probably a juvenile she decided. She joined Alana at the fence, casting Leviosa to get the eggs out of the way of the angry, flailing, lizard.

"Hermione, stay here!" Alana bellowed when she was sure the eggs were safe and joined Simon in the pen. He'd managed to get ropes around the beast's wings and was trying to secure them to the ground so they could get close enough to drug it unconscious. She had not seen where he got the syringe from that was now clenched between his teeth. She somewhat foolishly worried it would break in his mouth in the melee.

She had to fight her instincts to follow them into danger. She worried her bottom lip as she watched them repeatedly drive loops into the ground as they magically called the ropes to them. Simon juggled the syringe from his mouth to his hands, almost unconsciously, as he maneuvered around the animal and tried to get closer. It was moving quickly enough to snap the ropes just out of reach as it struggled to free itself. Hermione wondered if there was a better way to do this. A safer way.

The dragon swung around quickly, it's heavy tail colliding bodily with Simon, the spiked end just barely missing him. On its second turn, it caught Alana along the face. She was down in seconds, blood already beginning to spill from the wound. She heard Simon's shield spell shoot up before the lizard could roast her friend to a crisp.

"Alana!" Hermione was over the rails in a second, rolling the clearly bleeding woman out of the pen. Without much thinking, she murmured a spell she knew the stubborn woman wouldn't be able to break through and turned her attention to Simon and the angry dragon. She ignored the howls of the injured and furious woman behind her, trying to ascertain where she would be of most use. She didn't hear the "pop" of apparation.

"Charlie! Come quick! Hermione followed Simon into the pen with a wild Horntail and I'm afraid she's going to get herself killed. I can't get passed whatever wards she put up to keep it from getting out!" Alana was out of breath, the cut to her cheek pouring blood down the side of her face.

"Sweet Merlin. The warning sparks were for you three? Bloody hell. Trouble does find her, doesn't it…" Charlie grabbed Alana and let her apparate them to the pen in question. He could see the other tamers desperately trying to pull down the wards and get inside with a clearly injured Simon and the very inexperienced witch.

"It's not going to work. I recognize the spell. She learned it from my brother Bill. It's not coming down until she wants it to." Charlie hollered, slumping his shoulders in frustration as he redirected his attention to what was going on in the pen. All he could do now was watch with everyone else and hope she didn't get too badly injured. His stomach nearly bottomed out when he saw the brunette on her back in the dirt.

Hermione launched back onto her feet and grabbed the rope, throwing all her weight back onto her heels and digging into the ground. She was determined to not fall again. She could feel the skin on her palms peeling off with a grimace. She knew there was no way she wouldn't need patching up at the end of this day. She tugged and strained at her line, creeping ever closer to the anchor point not far behind her. The dragon was beginning to tire and thrashing less and less against the restraints. A few more good tugs and she had the clip around the loop driven into the dirt. She kept her eyes on the beast, just narrowly missing a jet of flame as the ornery animal tried to tug away from Simon's slackened line on the other side.

Instinctively, Hermione apparated from her position to the other tamer's side. She watched as the dirt where she'd stood mere seconds before smoked. She turned to see Simon working one-handed, his other side clearly dislocated at the shoulder. She'd not been able to get close enough to him when she first got inside to get Alana out. She wished she'd pulled him too and let the dragon get away.

"Holy hell, Hermione! What in the bloody hell are you doing in here?! You're going to get yourself killed!" Simon raged at her, clutching his injured shoulder in pain.

Without hesitation, she positioned herself between the dragon and her friend, yanking the slackened line taut and handing the slack back to him. All the while she kept her eyes on the lizard that was trying to strain against the ropes holding it down, occasionally spitting fire in their direction. Once she was certain Simon had the animal secured she grabbed him by the forearm and popped them back over the fence just as the dragon let out the largest stream of fire she'd seen yet.

Before anyone could say a word to her, she had her wand trained on Simon's injury and soon had his arm back in the socket and into a conjured sling.

"You'll still want to get it checked at the infirmary, but this should help with the pain a bit. Now, could one of you be so kind as to get in there and sedate that thing before it takes anyone else out?" Hermione swayed slightly as she finished her sentence, collapsing to the ground to a chorus of murmurs and gasps.


	13. Chapter 13: Out of the Woods

AN: My gig schedule is a little confusing right now so I may not always get this out on Fridays as I had hoped, I will aim for Saturday when that can't happen. Title borrowed from Taylor Swift.

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or it's related properties.

Out of the Woods

It wasn't clear who had grabbed Hermione to apparate first, either way, Simon, Alana, and Charlie all ended up in a tangle, holding the unconscious witch up in between them.

"Medic!" Simon bellowed when they found the lobby empty, desperately trying not to drop the one arm hold he had on Hermione.

"Simon?" Mariana appeared from down the corridor, breaking into a run when she saw who they had cradled in their arms.

"What the hell happened?! Are any of you not injured?" She looked frantically from his slung arm to Alana's face, struggling to figure out why Charlie looked so pained with no obvious signs of injury.

She mumbled something to herself and pointed her wand at the wall, causing the bells on the wall to ring loudly. A team of medics appeared seconds later, quickly trying to separate the tamers. They levitated Hermione onto a stretcher and disappeared behind the curtain to the emergency surgery.

"Oi! The lot of you! Stop shouting and fighting my staff, or I'll knock you out myself!" Mariana roared at them as they tried to push off of the nurses in pursuit of their friend.

"Where are they taking her?!" Alana swatted at the hand that was trying to clean the blood from her face, not caring a single whit about her own injuries.

"To check her vitals and, hopefully, wake her up to figure out what happened seeing as none of you are capable of telling me!" She barked.

"I don't know, she just collapsed…" Alana slumped her shoulders in remorse and allowed the nurse to clean her cut.

"Get off me! I'm not injured!" Charlie snarled, not wanting to be touched as he kept his eyes glued to where she'd disappeared from his view.

"Right, so Charlie is fine. Simon, what happened to your shoulder?" Mariana pressed on, ignoring the seething redhead being held in place by a rather large orderly.

"Knocked out of joint by the same Horntail that got Alana in the face. She got body checked by the way, you'll want to check her ribs." He nodded toward the other tamer, who was shooting him daggers.

"If looks could kill, Simon…" she growled, trying to shrug out of reach of the nurse attempting a diagnostic spell.

"Get her in a room, please. And Alana, let them check you out. You had a rib out for three days the last time and I don't have time for your bull shite. If she fights you, feel free to stupefy her." Mariana chastised as she gave orders.

"Did you get hit? What happened to Hermione?" Marian whirled back on Simon, focused with precision on the way his arm had been healed.

"Just in the shoulder. Hermione reset it and slung it for me before she collapsed. She hit dirt pretty hard, Mari, but I didn't see if she just tripped or if it hit her. She was fine and then…"

"She collapsed. And you're sure you didn't see if she got hit or not?" Mariana pressed.

"No. She shouldn't have even been in the pen… one of the others may have seen" Simon trailed off with worry, his eyes flitting to where Charlie was still hyper-focused.

"It's too late for that now, they'll figure it out soon enough. Into a room with you, let them double check you. And no rushing my emergency suite!"

A pair of nurses led Simon away, calmer now.

"I don't think she got hit, I can't even bounce back onto my feet the way she did. It was something else…" Charlie kept his voice low now that it was just the two of them left in the lobby.

"She was down already when you got there?" Mariana carefully set a hand on his crossed arms, trying to redirect his attention.

"She was. Jumped right back up. Was on those ropes quicker than I've seen even Henry move… You'll want to treat her palms. No gloves." He shook his head before finally making eye contact with her.

"Charlie, I need to know… is there any chance… Look, I know she's on a new potion now, but before that, did you two use protection? Is there any chance at all that she's pregnant?"

"We haven't been together that long, Mari, can she even be pregnant at this point?" His voice was filled with even more worry as he turned himself bodily toward his friend, grabbing her forearms in alarm.

"It's a long shot, but she wouldn't have symptoms yet. The problem is that if she is, there are things we can't treat her with without her consent. There are certain potions she wouldn't be able to have, not if she wanted to keep the baby." She shook her head in concern, looking toward the door that led back into the emergency suite.

"I… fuck." Charlie sat straight down on the floor with his head in his hands, totally incapable of processing the potential consequences of their irresponsibility.

"Did she ever mention if she was on something before? Did you use a contraceptive charm?"

All Charlie could do was shake his head in his hands, unable to look at his friend. After a few moments, she gave up and sighed heavily.

"I'm going to check on her now, I'll let you know as soon as I have news." Mariana couldn't be sure if he'd heard her, but there was nothing more she could do for him now.

* * *

"Charlie!" Hermione's cry was loud enough to be heard all the way down the corridor, not that it needed to carry that far. The man in question had been camped in front of her recovery room since the day before.

"Thank Merlin…" he elbowed his way past the nurses attending her and caught the woman in his arms when she launched herself from the bed.

"Are they okay? Are Simon and Alana okay?" She demanded as he lifted her from the floor.

"They're fine. It's you we're all worried about. You've been unconscious since yesterday!" Charlie placed her back on the bed, to the great relief of the nurses, and let them in around him to check her vitals. He refused to move from the side of her bed or to let go of her hands.

"I'm fine…" she lied, trying to brush away the nurses.

"No, Hermione, you're not. You went into shock. Do you remember what happened in the pen after you warded Alana out? You were on the ground when we got back to you. Did you get hit?" Charlie asked, smoothing his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I slipped when it lurched forward, I didn't want to lose the rope. I should have planted my feet better." She explained, her cheeks pinking in embarrassment.

"You shouldn't have been in that pen at all, love. You're not trained for that yet." He chuckled softly at her.

"Simon needed help." She said matter-of-factly with a little shrug of her shoulders.

"You're going to be trouble." They looked up to the sound of Henry entering the room. Charlie quickly pulled his hand away when the man pointedly cleared his throat and indicated that they shouldn't be doing that.

"I…" she tried to sit up to defend herself.

"Stop. You don't have to explain. I was a young tamer with friends in the field once too, Hermione, I remember what it's like to get swept away in the adrenaline of it all and run headlong into danger. From what I know of your history, you've been dragged into and voluntarily entered scrapes worse than this one."

"You could say that, yes. Harry and Ron weren't exactly the best at staying out of trouble."

Charlie tried to suppress a laugh as the description, managing to keep it to a slight snort and a smirk.

"I'm going to need you to at least try to stay safe while you're still training. You could have been killed yesterday. I know you and Simon were able to get the Horntail under control, but you should never have been in that pen, to begin with. You don't have a partner yet and haven't been taught how we handle these sorts of situations. If something like this happens again, I need you to step back and let the senior tamers lead."

"What happened to the dragon?" Hermione asked after a few moments of letting the order sink in.

"It's being checked over still. We're not sure how it got so off course and ended up out here, it shouldn't have been in these parts. There aren't any Horntail breeding grounds here. The only ones around are the ones we can't release back into the wild. Best guess is someone was trying to keep it as a pet and didn't have it penned properly. It broke free and followed the smell of other dragons to us. It's too early for mating season just yet, but it would have keyed in on the eggs you three were checking in that enclosure." Henry explained, irritated at the thought that someone may be trying to keep such an animal as a pet.

"And here I thought only Hagrid did such things…"

"That's right! You know our Norberta, we'll have to reintroduce you!" Charlie let out a little whoop of excitement, having forgotten the Ridgeback had once been kept in Hagrid's hut as a pet.

"That man… I hear more strange stories about Hagrid... How in the world he thought he could keep a dragon when he couldn't even sex one properly I don't know…" Henry grumbled as he sat in the chair next to Hermione's bed.

"I'm going to need privacy for a few minutes with my tamers if that's alright." He addressed the two women who had been busying themselves preparing Hermione's next dose of potions.

"Just have to be sure she drinks this one down and we'll leave you be until the healer comes 'round." An older woman with a slight brogue explained as she pressed a vial into Hermione's hand. She sniffed at it skeptically before swallowing it and handing the little bottle back to the woman.

When the room was cleared Henry cast a privacy charm and turned to Charlie and Hermione rather seriously.

"Now, I know I said you two could keep up your relationship while Hermione is in training provided word didn't get around, but we need to have a bit of a discussion about that."

"Why? Did someone find out?" Hermione asked, concern etching her features.

"No, but someone could have. Mariana performed a pregnancy check on you as a precaution yesterday…" Henry started.

"I… I'm not... I can't be…" her blood went cold as she stared at the older man in horror.

"No, you aren't. But, you shouldn't have been in a position where Charlie couldn't tell your healer for certain that there was no chance you could be. Mariana is entering the exam as a routine procedure on your chart so even if someone gets a hold of it they shouldn't be able to gather anything incriminating from it. My concern is that Charlie has a reckless streak as it is, and given what happened yesterday I have my concerns that you're going to be just as much of a handful." Henry sighed, rubbing a hand over his tired face.

"There was no way I could have been. I've been on potions since school." Hermione's voice was firm.

"I didn't know that when Mariana asked me," Charlie admitted.

"We never talked about it, did we?" Hermione realised, her cheeks beginning to blush.

"This is what I mean. I need the two of you to have whatever hard conversations you haven't yet and figure out if this is something you can realistically keep on with. I'm not saying you can't be together, but I'm saying you need to decide if it's something you can safely do and both be in this program. Just my thoughts on the subject. At the very least, Hermione, you need to set up a medical proxy. Should have done it first thing yesterday, but with all the other hoopla…" Henry sighed heavily again, this time getting to his feet.

"Do whatever it is you need to do. I don't need to know what, if any, decisions you make about how to handle this. You do need to handle it, however, because at some point one or both of you is going to end up back in here and I need to know that you can handle that like adults." On that note he exited the room, not waiting for a goodbye from either of them.

They sat for a few moments, staring after their departed boss. When they were sure he wasn't returning, Charlie picked up her hand again.

"It shouldn't be me."

"What shouldn't be you?" Hermione cocked her head in confusion.

"Your medical proxy. It shouldn't be me. Make it Alana. I was more likely to pull them apart to get to you yesterday than I was to actually communicate anything at all about your medical history."

"Were you being a brute?" Hermione teased with a little smile at his sudden embarrassment.

"Maybe a little," he admitted sheepishly.

"I have been on a potion this whole time, Charlie, there was no chance."

"I couldn't say for sure. I know you're more responsible than most, but we'd never talked about it. I didn't want to lie to Mariana because…"

"What if you'd been wrong and I was pregnant?" She finished for him. He nodded in reply.

"Then they would have done what they could and there's nothing you could have done otherwise." She soothed.

"Hermione, if the potion ever fails, and you do get pregnant… would you want to keep it?"

"I honestly don't know. We're not even publicly together yet and I've only been training one day. It wouldn't be wise at this point, I don't think. But further down the line… I really don't know… would you want me to keep it?" Hermione looked him in the eye, turning her hand over in his so she could give it a squeeze.

"I think so, yeah. If you would be willing to. I've always wanted kids someday." He admitted.

"Then if I ever do get pregnant we'll talk about it and figure something out." She smiled at him.

"In the meantime, you'll make Alana your proxy?"

"Yes, you silly man. I'll make Alana my proxy. It wouldn't do to have you tearing through the infirmary like that angry Horntail is I ever end up back in here." She giggled and felt her eyes start to get heavy.

"I think that may have been a sleeping draught…" she yawned at him.

"Might have been, they said you were overworked and the shock drained some of your magic. They'll probably keep you another night."

"Hmmm. You're not going to be in trouble because you sat here all day waiting for me to wake up are you?"

"No, it's part of being the second in command. No one will think otherwise about it. I'll be here when you wake up again, go to sleep." He leaned in and kissed her forehead as her eyes finally closed.

He settled himself into the chair Henry had vacated and watched her sleep, his mind turning over all the major conversations they would still need to have. If they all went as smoothly as this one just had he knew they'd be okay, but something told him there were going to be things about his past she wasn't going to be too happy about.


	14. Chapter 14: Secrets

**AN:** I know this is a couple days late. I'm traveling and my internet access has been spotty. I'm going to be away for another week or so and will do my best to get the next update up on time. If I can, I'll post a bonus chapter this week as a thank you for your patience. Title song is by One Republic.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or it's related properties.

 **Secrets**

"How is she doing?" Alana whispered, sneaking into the room between rounds.

"Out cold. The sleeping draught they give her is next to impossible to wake her up from," Charlie explained, accepting the hug his friend offered.

"Do we know what happened?" She sat on the edge of Hermione's bed, leaning close to him and keeping her voice low so the nurses would not hear if they passed by.

"No, not really. She wasn't hit, we know that for sure. They think something went wonky with her magic, it drained pretty quick. Thing is though, that shield spell she used to keep you out? Bill created that. It's complicated magic and incredibly hard to maintain. I think she pushed too hard trying to keep the shield up on top of the adrenaline. Her body gave out when her magic dipped…" Charlie looked at Hermione with concern, taking her hand in his and smoothing the back of it with his thumb.

"Has that ever happened before?" Alana took the other hand and laced her fingers through Hermione's.

"Not that I know of. I think it happened to Bill once in Egypt, I sent an owl to find out what happened… How are you? Any broken ribs this time?"

"Nah. Just some bad bruising and the cut on my cheek. Simon took the brunt of it this time. Hermione did a decent job on the set, they pretty much sent him back with some pain potions and instructions to take it easy for a couple days."

"That's good then. We don't have the staff to lose three tamers at once. Hell, we can scarcely afford to have one down right now. Henry's got me on clerical so I can keep an eye on her, but I know he really wants me out in the field." He sighed as his shoulders slumped, the guilt weighing heavy on him.

"You know he isn't going to let you do this every time she gets hurt, yeah? And she is going to get hurt again, Charlie, a lot. You know that…"

"I know. I just wanted to see her through the first one. Who would have figured she'd put herself in here instead of a dragon." He chuckled quietly and shook his head with an amused smile.

"She really is something else, this one." Alana smiled and set Hermione's hand back down on the bed.

"Henry told me I have to tell her. I won't tell her it was you if you don't want me to, Alana…" Charlie changed the subject, reaching his other hand over to take hers.

"We knew this would come eventually. If you have to tell her, tell her. And make sure she knows I'll answer any questions she wants." They sat in silence for a few moments, the secret between them weighing heavily in the dark.

"Hey… you know what you did wasn't a bad thing, right? There's not many that would have done that."

"You needed a friend. It was the right thing to do." He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I know. Make sure you tell her that too, tell her everything. She might be mad, but I think she'll understand. It's not like anything serious happened…"

"I'd say that whole ordeal was pretty serious, Alana…"

"Not between us. And I think that's the part that's going to matter most to her." She sighed and rose from the bed, giving his hand one last squeeze before she slipped back into the night.

Charlie sat and stared at the woman sleeping beside him. She needed to know, but would she hold it against him?

* * *

When Hermione woke the next morning it was to find Charlie sleeping in the chair next to her bed, still holding her hand. She gave it a light squeeze as she smiled at the exhausted redhead. His face scrunched and twitched a few times before he slowly opened his eyes and smiled sleepily at her.

"Morning, gorgeous." His voice was low and gravelly, sending a tingle of appreciation down her spine.

"Can I go home yet?" She asked, her throat dry and her body suddenly very achy.

"Gotta ask the healer that, love." He stood and dropped a quick kiss on her forehead before stepping out to find who was on duty.

"Good morning, Hermione, how are we feeling?" Mariana asked as she slipped into the room and closed the door behind her, casting a quick privacy charm.

"Sore, a little achy." She admitted with a grimace when she tried to get out of bed.

"Charlie owled Bill for us last night and we got a response. That spell of his you used, while incredibly effective, is not made to cover the area you cast it for or to hold for any duration. Essentially, you depleted your magic trying to hold everything together. Mixed with the adrenaline, it was the perfect storm to totally override your system. We're going to let you go home today, but you can't work until tomorrow. And even then I'd take it as a personal favour if you could take it slow over the next few days. We really don't know how this is going to impact you yet. About the only thing we do know is that your palms are fine, but you'll need to let them build up some callouses." She explained everything carefully as she ran a diagnostic spell and made notes on Hermione's chart, seemingly pleased with the information she was gathering.

"Anything special she should be aware of?" Charlie asked, trying to peek over her shoulder to the chart.

"You probably aren't going to be happy about this, but no sex for a few days. Let your body recover a bit more before you try. Could be that you can safely do it now, but we really don't know how long it's going to take your magic to build back up. It may make your contraceptive potion not work for this cycle, when you do start having sex again you'll need to use a charm." Hermione nodded and tried to fight down the heat rising to her cheeks.

"You'll want to get your proxy paperwork in soon, Henry was saying you were probably going with Alana. Have a set down with her this week and work it out if you can, it's helpful if she already knows your medical and had some idea of what your wishes would be."

"Can I take her home now?" Charlie asked, bouncing a little on his feet.

"I don't see why not, her numbers are good. Let me know if you have any concerns, Hermione, okay?" Mariana leaned in and gave her a warm hug before helping her to her feet and letting Charlie take her from there.

He apparated them to his cabin, visibly relieved that she was out of the woods and not permanently damaged.

"When are we going to have that conversation Henry wanted us to have?" Hermione asked, sitting on the end of his bed.

"I was hoping you might let me crawl in with you for a little bit. I didn't sleep the last few nights and I'll have to go back to full service plus cleaning detail tomorrow morning." He looked slightly sheepish as he changed his clothes and slipped into the bed.

"I take it that's why you brought me here instead of back to yours?" She laughed a little, sliding under the blankets and settling down next to him.

"I hope that's alright…"

"Of course." She snuggled into him, sighing when he wrapped his arms around her tired frame and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

He smoothed his hand down her back and breathed in the scent of her, filing it away in his mind just in case she wasn't inclined to share a bed with him after their talk. With a happy sigh, he drifted off to sleep with his witch in his arms.

* * *

When next they both awoke it was mainly due to the rumble in Hermione's stomach.

"I was wondering when that might happen." Charlie laughed lightly into her curls, rolling her beneath him and staring down at her still sleepy looking face.

"I have been sleeping for several days…" she grumbled, half-heartedly smacking his chest with her palm.

"I don't have much here, love… is there anything special you want?" He nuzzled her neck, playfully kissing where it joined her shoulder.

"Don't you start… you know we can't do anything…" she groaned at him, trying to shove him away.

"We can't have sex, that doesn't mean I can't kiss you." He rolled his eyes as he climbed out of the bed and made his way toward the door.

"So… anything special? Or want me to see what we've got and go from there?" He asked again as he pulled on a clean shirt.

"Whatever you have here is fine. Maybe some tea?" She sat up slowly, wincing slightly at the stiffness of her muscles.

"I'm giving you a massage after you eat. Completely non-sexually of course." He shook a finger at her with a wink before leaving the room.

Hermione looked around the room, as much time as she'd spent here she hadn't ever really looked at it. She felt a little flutter in her chest when she saw the photograph next to his bed was a group snap from Christmas several years before. They were seated next to each other at dinner, though she didn't remember what he'd said to make her laugh so suddenly in the photo. The idea that it was the image he kept closest to his bed made her smile. In some small way, she'd amongst the things he most cared for longer than they'd been together.

The walls were fairly sparse, a calendar and a poster of Puddlemere United being the only decoration. She wondered if he'd ever considered putting up more photos, or if he preferred the simplicity of having fewer things in the room. His dresser was cluttered with various detritus, mostly appearing to be things that may have been in his pockets at the end of the day. The nightstand on the other side held an empty water glass and his alarm clock with a spot between the two where she assumed his wand would rest. She picked up the photo again and studied it carefully, trying to remember what he'd said to make her react so obviously.

"That's a great picture, isn't it?" Charlie asked as he entered the room, floating a tray ahead of him.

"I was just trying to remember what you'd said to make me laugh so hard…" she plucked the tray from the air and set it on her lap as he picked up the photo to have a better look.

"You know, I don't really remember. I remember mum sat us next to each other, and I know we talked about magizoology, but that's it. Wish I could remember, you look beautiful when you laugh like that." He set the photo down and climbed back in the bed, picking up the sandwich she hadn't selected and winking at her.

"We really weren't thrown together all that much, were we? Do you suppose we might have ended up together sooner if we were?" She asked around swallows of food and tea.

"I'm not sure. Probably not, I've never been much of a fan of distance relationships." He shrugged and finished his sandwich, leaning back against the headboard and waiting for her to finish.

"Before you attempt to get your hands on me, we should probably have whatever that talk is Henry wanted us to have. I'm too tired to really hex you if it's all that bad…" she teased, setting the tray of empty dishes on the floor.

"It's not just my story I have to tell you, you need to know that straight off. But I did speak to her first, she popped in to see how you were…" Charlie swallowed hard and sat up straight, resting his forearms on his knees.

"Who?" Hermione felt her chest tighten slightly at the thought that someone she knew might be somehow tied to Charlie in a way Henry was concerned about.

"Alana…" he caught her eye and waited for her reaction, not liking the way her jaw tightened slightly.

"It's not what you think, we weren't romantically together. But…"

"But?" Hermione pressed when he stopped to worry his bottom lip in an approximation of the way she often caught herself doing.

"But, a lot of people here think we were. And it's something she and I need to keep that way."

"Charlie, that doesn't make any sense." She shook her head at him, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Alana got pregnant last year." Hermione went stalk still at the news, the colour draining from her cheeks as he broke the news.

"Were you two sleeping together? Or…" she tried to catch his eye, but he was staring at his arms.

"This is where you might get cross. I need you to promise to hear me out, okay?" he asked, tone laced with worry. All she could do was nod.

"We have slept together, yes, in that we've shared a bed. But we've never had sex. Some of the other tamers think we have, but we haven't. It was something she wanted the other guys to think so they'd lay off of her. Once she was made fulltime they became fair game of sorts and they went after her pretty hard…"

"Why would I be mad about you pretending to sleep with Alana?" Hermione was getting more confused by the story.

"People are going to tell you that she and I snogged at parties. That part is true. We never bring it up, but you should know it's happened more than a couple times. When she got pregnant, it was some bloke she'd had a one nighter with when she was gone on holiday. She didn't know she was pregnant when she got back. She wouldn't have been allowed in the field if Henry had known, it wasn't until a couple months later when…" Hermione turned and set her hand on his forearms, interrupting his flow of speech and making him look at her.

"She had an accident like mine and they did a pregnancy test. That's why Mariana was so worried and why Henry said you have a reckless streak… Everyone thinks you got your partner pregnant. And then, what? What happened to the baby?" Her eyes were not angry as Charlie had expected, but full of worry.

"She was hit pretty hard by an Ironbelly. They did what they could, but…"

"They couldn't save the baby… How did everyone find out?" Charlie sighed heavily and shifted his position, tentatively searching her eyes for a clue as to how she was processing what she'd been told so far. To his surprise, she crawled next to him and nestled into his side, her body thrumming with worry.

"That's the part that changed the way we handle medical records. We still don't know who, but someone responsible for dispatching reports in the Ministry back home read her file and told someone about the miscarriage. It was out within days." His tone was angry now, remembering the way she'd been hassled for being pregnant of the reserve.

"She didn't tell them she didn't know? Or that the baby wasn't yours?" She pressed carefully, setting a palm on his chest.

"No, I wouldn't let her. I saw the way the news she'd had a miscarriage hit her. She was devastated. I couldn't let her go through that alone, so I told everyone it was mine and that we must have forgotten to cast the contraceptive charm at some point. We got through it together, I don't think she could have handled it alone…" They sat in silence for an uncomfortable amount of time.

"Charlie, why did you think I was going to be cross with you about this? Why was this so concerning?" Hermione pushed away from him to better see his face.

"I didn't tell you about Alana and me before. Even though we only snogged, I knew you were getting closer to her and I didn't tell you. She offered to do it, but I told her I would if things got serious. She's more than willing to speak to you about any of this, by the way. She really does like you." His cheeks warmed in embarrassment at having hidden it from her.

"I'm not mad about that, Charlie. I think it was rather sweet what you did for her."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek to prove it, feeling him relax slightly next to her.

"There's more to that reckless streak than just that…"

"I would assume so. One event does not create a streak." She teased, trying to alleviate the weird energy in the room.

"I've got a bit of a criminal record out here. I'm not welcome in the Muggle pubs…" he grimaced when she leaned back in surprise.

"What did you do?"

"I've been in a fair few fights. Usually dragged in by someone else, mind, but enough that Henry said if I got arrested again he wouldn't bail me out."

"Fighting, Charlie, really?" She huffed.

"Oi! Didn't I hear a story about you punching Malfoy in the face?"

"That was different and it was one time! You have a record!" She gesticulated wildly at him, not liking this particular revelation.

"How is this the thing you're most concerned about?" He laughed, realising how ridiculous it really was.

"How many years did I spend avoiding expulsion because of my best mates? And with the keeping your twin brothers out of hot water… I'm not exactly enthused to have another Weasley that may need chasing after." She explained with a groan.

"Well, that's in my past, love. I don't pick fights at the Wizarding establishments, and I'm not likely to anywhere else for that matter. Once I found ladies like me enough to let me shag them, I had somewhere better for that energy to go."

"Do I want to know how many hears litter the trail of Charles Weasley?"

"Ah… no. That you don't want to know." Charlie grimaced when she whacked him on the shoulder.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me? You looked like you were going to go to pieces when I asked when we were going to talk."

"No, that's the long and short of it all." Charlie sighed, happy to have it over with.

"Why in the world were you so worried about how I'd react? The way you were looking I thought you were going to tell me you were secretly married or that you'd killed someone…"

"Well actually…"

"You did not!" Hermione gasped.

"I'm only teasing, love. I guess I was so worked up because I haven't taken a woman seriously in such a long time. I didn't know how you'd feel about me having a bit of a criminal background or about me being linked to one of your friends." He shrugged, offering back her spot back next to him.

"You'll find that for as stuck up a reputation as I've had since childhood, I'm pretty understanding of things." She leaned back into his side again, relieved that his secrets were not as bad as he'd implied.

"You still willing to give this a go with me?" He asked, kissing the top of her head.

"Couldn't get rid of me if you tried, Weasley." She sighed as she cuddled further into him.

"You ready for that massage?" he asked.

"I think I did a nap first. Doesn't seem to matter that I was out for days, I'm still exhausted."

"When you wake up then." He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and thanked his lucky stars that his sense of foreboding had been so wrong.


	15. Chapter 15: Everything is Alright

**AN:** I *almost* got this up before Sunday. Damn. I leave to head back home today. Internet should be much more stable once I'm there. I'll be henny-penny for a couple weeks still due to other commitments, but as long as I can find the writing time getting things updated on time shouldn't be an issue. Title from Motion City Soundtrack

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or it's related properties.

 **Everything is Alright**

Charlie held her close to him as she slept. In the morning he couldn't protect her from the inevitable soreness and new injuries that would surely befall her. But, for now, in the last few hours before she was released back to work he could cuddle her close and pretend that she wasn't about to dive headfirst into the world of dangerous multi-tonne lizards. The massage earlier had seemed to help unclench and relax her muscles, letting her fall more comfortably to sleep after he'd managed to get some soup in her. He breathed her in, feeling her shift closer into his embrace when he shifted his arms. He wasn't sure how he'd fallen for her so quickly, but the thought of losing her scared him.

It wasn't like him to be so taken with a woman. Yet, here she was in his arms. Clothed even. It hadn't even occurred to him to try and disobey Mariana and get her naked. No, he was just happy she wasn't more hurt. Whoever she ended up partnered with would need to keep an eye on her, it was clear to him she wouldn't necessarily let on that she was hurt. How exhausted had she really been going into the day for such a seemingly small scrap to knock her so thoroughly out of the game? He couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he knew the part he played in so many of her late nights. The more he thought about it, the more he realised she seemed to be in some perpetual state of exhaustion. They would need to work on that.

"Mmmm, Charlie…" she mumbled in her sleep. He felt his heart flutter at the soft sound, wondering what dream of him she was having.

"I'm right here, love." He whispered in her ear, kissing the back of her head as he settled in behind her to try and get some sleep himself. It wouldn't do for him to get injured from being a zombie on the job because he stayed up all night, again, watching her sleep.

* * *

"How are you feeling? Still sore?" Alana asked Hermione as they nursed their coffee in the mess hall the next morning.

"Not as much as I was. I'm ready to be back at work, I don't like being idle for that long...:"

"You were out cold for a lot of that 'idle' time, love." Alana chuckled, shoveling a bit of extra eggs onto Hermione's plate and urging her to eat them.

"Is it strange I'm not even a little irritated with that dragon? It caused so much trouble, but I've been worried about the poor thing."

"S'not strange at all. Makes you one of us, really. It's doing well, been moved into the Horntail enclosure where it belongs. No one knows where it came from, but it was definitely kept as a pet at some point. There's some chain wear on its back legs, we see that a lot in illegal trade cases." Alana smiled at her, impressed with her concern for the beast.

"Is it alright? No other health problems?" She refused a third helping of eggs in favor of a bit of toast, trying to placate her friend in the onboarding of extra calories.

"No, they're sure it's a male though. They've not named him yet. Simon thought you want to do it…"

"Why would I get to do it?"

"Well, normally whoever it draws first blood on would name it. It's a weird little tradition we have here. In this case, it really should have been me, but I turned it down. Simon insisted it go to you."

"I don't feel as if I've earned it, are you sure you and Simon don't want to name him?" Hermione stalled the last bit of toast before it touched her lips, brows knitting in thought.

"You've more than earned it. If it weren't for you, Simon and I would be much worse off than we are. You shouldn't have been in there, mind, but you did more than a bit of good when you got involved." Alana took her by the arm as they made their way out of the mess, Hermione still grasping the last bit of her toast as she was lost in thought.

"How, exactly, goes into the naming of a dragon? Are their rules to it? What names are already taken?" She asked, falling into step with Alana.

"Why don't we start with the Horntails today, then? You can meet the crew in there. I'm supposed to get you started with observing how we handle the different breeds anyway. After lunch, we can register the new dragon's name in the book in Henry's office." She tugged Hermione in the direction of the enclosures, opting to walk instead of Apparate to save the other woman's still rebounding magic.

"Right, so, these are the most dangerous we've got on the reserve. It's why Henry was so bristly about you being allowed anywhere near one. You could have been killed just as easily as injured. What do you notice about them?"

"Well, other than the tell-tale horns, these look the most like regular lizards just all black."

"What do you notice about their eyes?" Alana pushed, gesturing to one sleepily blinking not too far beyond the protective wards.

"They look a bit like a cat's, vertical pupils?"

"Yeah. That's right. They've all got yellow eyes too, not a lot of variation in markings in this breed. You see the bronze in their horns? Looks a bit like metal, don't it?" Alana smiled, admiring the colouring on the animals.

"How come some of them look like they don't have a horn on their tail? Isn't that where they get their name?" Hermione pointed to a pair circling overhead.

"Good catch. They can retract them, they usually only have them out when they feel threatened. Some of our older ones keep them out all the time, we haven't been able to figure out why. Charlie thinks they might get sore or something as they age and it's less painful to keep them out." Alana explained, motioning for Hermione to follow her to the observation room just inside the wards.

"Right, then, this is the observatory for this enclosure. It's warded against fire but otherwise isn't as protective as the perimeter wards. We use this one a lot more than any of the others because the Horntails can be right particular about who they'll allow in the enclosure. We rotate through the breeds intentionally, most everyone has a specialty, but we like our tamers well rounded. You won't get to work with these one-on-one for some time yet. Takes a bit to get skilled enough to handle them. Our bit of trouble with them a few days ago is the only close interaction you're likely to get with them for a few months."

"What are we observing for?" Hermione produced a miniaturized writing set from her pockets and returned them to usable size, beginning to take notes on what she was learning.

"A lot of the time we're looking for signs of illness or injury. In this enclosure particularly, we're also making sure the older female in that back corner there eats. She's going blind and can't also get at the cattle or sheep like the other ones. She can still roast it herself if she can find them, but we suspect her sense of smell might be going now too because it's taking her longer to locate them. We've got concerns we might need to pull her out, which isn't ideal. Horntails, even sick or injured ones, can't go into the shared medical enclosures. She'll have to have one all to herself if we pull her out." She indicated a large dragon with a number of broken scales and very cloudy eyes sunning itself on a large boulder.

"Do they roast their food? I haven't read that before…"

"Some do. They get a taste for it if they eat something they took down with flame. Most of them use their claws or teeth to catch and kill and eat them raw. The Vipertooths, which you'll see later, prefer their meat cooked. Vipertooths are my specialty." Alana grinned wide as she explained.

"Who specialises in the Horntails?" She made a note that Alana preferred the Vipertooths.

"Corvus. You won't get to work with him too much until you're ready to come out here and in with them. Henry lets him do extra shifts over here because they seem to like him. No one is exactly sure why they've been known to eat humans. Corvus, though? He could bloody well ride one if we wanted too. They very nearly purr like kittens when he gets close."

"How many are there in this enclosure?" Hermione strained to see into the far distance where she thought she could spot a pair of them.

"Including your boy, there are seven in all. Most of them came from illegal trade so they've never lived wild. We try to keep the names based on their country of origin, except the Ridgebacks, most of them had names when they came here. Oh! And the Welsh Greens. Charlie names most of them and he's got his own weird habits when it comes to naming dragons…"

"There's a story there in somewhere." Hermione laughed.

"I'll have him tell it to you, he doesn't specialise in the Greens, but he gets injured by them more than anyone else!" She laughed before directing her attention back to the enclosure.

"The two way off there in the distance? That's Marishka and Marioria, female twins hatched from the same egg if the rumours are true. We got them off a black market dealer so we can't be sure. Our blind old lady is Eszti. The one sunning himself by the perimeter wards is Dorjan. You see the two going after the sheep? The bigger one is Tass and the smaller one is Marton. Your boy is the one sleeping in the corner there. He hasn't figured out his spot in the pecking order yet so he mostly keeps to himself."

Hermione leaned closer the glass, trying to get a good look at the dragon she would get to name. There wasn't anything particularly outstanding about him, other than being a bit small.

"Do they suppose he's a juvenile? He seems smaller than the others."

"They think he's young yet, but somewhat stunted. He won't get as big as the other boys. Do you have any names in mind?"

"I think so. I'm leaning toward 'Kiss', it means 'small'." Hermione explained.

"You might need to explain that to the other tamers, they'll think it's too sweet for a Horntail…" Alana considered the name, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't care what they think. It's a good name for him, he is small, after all. And if that's how he's going to be recognized he should have a name to match." She was firm in her resolve, nodding to herself.

"Kiss it is then." Alana laughed, liking the fierce determination in Hermione's eyes.

"There isn't a whole lot more I can show you with this lot. They don't get fed today, and even then Charlie is doing most of the feedings and cleanings until he's worked off his agreement with Henry."

Hermione grimaced slightly, knowing she was a big part of the reason Charlie was doing all the extra work. If they hadn't taken up together he wouldn't have to work so hard.

"Don't go feeling bad because Charlie is working more. He takes a lot of extra work off Henry. It helps take the load off the rest of us. He's got this mistaken sense that because he's the senior most tamer he has to do twice as much as anyone else."

"That does sound like Charlie. I remember how much work he did rebuilding The Burrow when the war was over. He barely let his mum or dad lift a finger. Caught him out there late at night more than once, putting up walls all by himself." Hermione smiled as she thought back on the nights she'd intended to sneak back and do the same thing, only to notice Charlie still hard at work. She'd quietly slipped away each time, afraid to speak to him alone.

"You really like him," Alana said softly, turning and leaning her back against the glass.

"I do, yeah." Her cheeks flushed as she thought about just how much she really did like the man she was getting to know better and better.

"You'll get to see him soon enough. It's likely he'll be at feeding time for the Ridgebacks, they're the ones he's best with. Though, honestly, he's good with most all of them. Except the lions. He's not as keen on those these days."

"Lions?"

"Another name for the Chinese Fireballs." Alana crossed back toward the door, pausing for Hermione to finish her notes and follow her out.

"I should have shown you this on the way in, but I wanted you to get a look at them when they're on the calm side. It doesn't last long. The males like to scrap." She gestured to a row of clipboards tacked up next to the door.

"Anytime you see something interesting or strange with a particular dragon you note it on their chart. We'll go ahead and label the blank one for Kiss, but they won't update it on his medical charts in the veterinary until it goes in Henry's book."

"Why does it matter if it's in Henry's book?" Hermione cocked her head in curiosity.

"He's got the serial numbers for every animal that comes through. We tag them under the left wing so we can track them if they get out. Once he's got the name attached to the number he sends a memo out so everyone can update the charts. In this case, Kiss hasn't had his number added to his chart yet so it won't hurt anything to put on name on it."

"What sorts of things would be considered 'interesting or strange' enough to go on the chart?"

"If they seem sick at all. Or if you notice any mating behaviours, especially courting. We're still studying the habits of some of the more secretive breeds. We suspect some of them must court at night when we aren't here. Charlie was hoping to get a twenty-four-hour watch up this season. If Henry okays it, it's likely all of us will spend some overnights in the observation rooms instead of in the on-call." Alana explained, flipping through the various charts and pointing out examples of well done notes for Hermione.

"That sounds like it could be fun!" She beamed, excited by the idea.

"It really could be. And with any luck, it'll help answer some questions for us." Alana laid eyes on the clock and started when she saw the time.

"We better get moving to the Ridgebacks. You'll want to see them when they hunt, it's really something…"

"I'm looking forward to it." Hermione smiled as she followed her back outside.


	16. Chapter 16: Freak Like Me

**AN:** Life got messy so I couldn't get this one up when I wanted to. It will come out on Fridays whenever possible from here on out. Title from Halestorm

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or in any way profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Freak Like Me**

Hermione jogged to keep up, trying to organise her notes as they made their way to the Ridgebacks. Remembering something she thought she'd been told before, she took Alana by the elbow to slow her pace.

"Everything okay? Do you need a break?" Alana looked her over in fear she was working her too hard.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking, Charlie said at the bonfire that Colin specialises in the Vipertooths too. Does that mean there's more than one specialist per breed?"

"Not technically, but we all have at least two we're really good with. Henry doesn't like to pick one specialist per breed in case someone goes out of commision, but we're all at least a little better with a specific breed. He doesn't make a big deal of assigning leads if he can avoid it because the Ministry might not let us have two tamers focused on the same thing. Besides, Colin is better with the babies than I am during breeding season. I'm better with the adults," Alana explained.

"What does everyone else specialise in?" Hermione made a quick addition to her notes, wanting to keep track of who preferred what.

You already know Andrei is out at the end of this season, his specialty is Swedish Short-Snouts. Which actually sort of works out because we don't get very many of them and don't really need a specialist for them right now. They're only really a threat because of how hot their fire is, but the two we have are pretty healthy and don't need much interaction. They're also pretty docile since they were bred in captivity, so they don't breathe fire much. Least not at the tamers. They won't threaten what feeds them." Alana laughed heartily at Hermione's panicked look.

"His second specialty is the Greens. Peter is a dab hand with those as well, but he's best with Fireballs. Both Chinese and Catalonian, not that it comes up much because they rarely leave Spain. Both Colin and I specialise in Vipertooths, but he also is really good with the Longhorns and I'm decent with the Ironbellies. Charlie is best with the Ridgebacks and the Opaleyes, though he won't admit it. I think he thinks it's less manly for some ridiculous reason. Truth be told, he's probably the only one here that could really easily work with anything. Even Henry isn't great with some of the breeds, but Charlie is good with just about anything we get… Corvus handles Horntails and can fill in easily on the Greens. Simon is our main Longhorn specialist and is Charlie's backup for the Ridgebacks. Henry specialised in Portuguese Long-Snouts when he did rotation, but that was when they would still let them out of Portugal. Back then each tamer was pretty much an expert in whatever breed they were assigned to. My second is the Blacks, though I expect Henry is hoping you will be too. We've noticed they respond a little better to female voices, which is strange…"

"Why is that strange?" Hermione stopped, staring at her with a quizzical expression.

"There's a theory that dragons do better with males because their voices are lower in pitch. Hebridean Blacks seem to like the opposite. They usually are exclusively cared for by the MacFusty clan in Scotland, but we've got a small family of them here that refuse to be moved. We sent them back to the clan once and they flew right the hell back. Decided it was too costly to risk moving them again, so we've had a few here ever since. We trade wee ones back and forth each season to keep from inbreeding. I think the plan is to move all of them back when the oldest pair dies, we don't think the juveniles are as attached to the reserve."

"If the plan is to ultimately move them all back, is it wise to specialise in them? Won't I be putting myself out of a job?" Hermione laughed.

"Not likely. They're likely to outlive you. But if you're worried about it, we could use someone else who's good with the Opaleyes so Charlie doesn't complain so much…" Alana laughed, leading the rest of the way to the Ridgeback enclosure.

"Before we go in… I didn't know how to bring this up earlier…" Hermione stopped her one last time, staring over the other woman's shoulder nervously.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I just feel like you should know… Charlie told me about… everything. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad he was a good friend to you." The words fell out in a rush, her cheeks pinking from the effort.

"I told him he could. I'm glad to have him as a friend, he's a good guy, our Charlie. Did you… did you have any questions?" She asked, making sure there was no one around.

"No, so far as I'm concerned it's your business. If you ever want to talk about it with someone I'm happy to listen. Otherwise, I don't see why we can't keep on being friends." She made eye contact timidly, she wasn't sure if Alana felt the same way about their relationship.

"Oh, Hermione… you're a great friend, love." Alana wrapped her in a hug, giving her a good squeeze in thanks before pulling her along toward the enclosure.

"We're okay then? I don't want there to be any awkwardness…" her muscles unclenched in relief when Alana laughed, eyes twinkling like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

"We are more than okay, Hermione. You saved my life and you aren't bothered that there are rumours I shagged your boyfriend and he knocked me up. We're going to be just fine."

"Great." They smiled wide at each other, stepping into the observation room.

"Nice, we're just in time. Look over there…" Alana nodded and pointed at the far, left-hand side of the glass.

Hermione could just barely back out the shape of someone in the distance, she assumed Charlie, releasing what looked like cattle into the enclosure. The animals began to run almost immediately, sensing the sudden presence of the dragons overhead.

"Do dragons eat cattle?" Hermione asked, transfixed by the looping patterns of the dragons who didn't seem to be overly concerned about the animals below.

"Looks a bit like cattle from here, doesn't it? Those are actually buffalo. In the wild one of the things they hunt is musk ox, but they're too expensive to get out here for whatever reason and the buffalo do pretty well on the reserve."

"What are they doing?" Hermione watched as the dragons started to lower, looping in alternate directions.

"You'll see." Hermione could hear the smile in her voice but didn't want to miss anything.

"Oh! Did it just…" she could have sworn she saw one snatch a buffalo, but the animals didn't seem the slightest bit disturbed and so she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.

"Cool, huh?" She turned to see Charlie leaning against the door behind her.

"It's fascinating…" she breathed, watching as another seemed to disappear in a blink of an eye. Slowly but surely, all the buffalo disappeared and the dragons were nowhere to be seen.

"They're incredibly stealthy, which is interesting since they don't actually move as quickly as some of the other breeds. It can be mind-boggling to watch." Charlie laughed at Hermione's wide eyes and dropped draw when she turned to face Alana again.

"Imagine being the poor sailor who saw one of those things snatch a whale out of the water!" Alana barked out a laugh.

"A whale?!" Hermione nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Yep. In Norway, they pull 'em right out of the eater. Only dragons to eat non-land mammals." Charlie explained, pulling up a chair and flipping it backward to cross his arms over the back.

"That's incredible." Hermione beamed in his direction.

"I thought so, big reason why I like them so much," he smiled back at her.

"He's got just over a half-dozen of them in there these days. I swear Charlie gets too close to any Ridgeback clutch and it about guarantees all the eggs will hatch." Alana laughed.

"Naw, Norberta is just a good breeder. Doesn't squish any of her eggs." He winked at Hermione.

"How is she?" She pulled up another chair, scribbling in her notes furiously so she wouldn't forget anything.

"One of the best females we've ever had. We've actually been able to reintroduce a decent number of them back to their native habitat thanks to her. It'll be a few more years until they're enough of them out there to worry about the gene pool getting too close, but from what we can tell they're mixing really well with the native-born population." He spoke like a proud father, his tone much like Arthur's when he bragged about his children.

"What are their names?"

"We've got Norberta, of course, and three other grown females. Maisie, Charlotte, and Ginger. Only two grown males at the moment; Anders and Jan. They're the only ones with Norwegian names since we got them straight from Norway. The youngest male is Henry. I'm pretty sure Peter named him that just to irritate the boss…" Charlie chuckled.

"Alana said you have a naming convention for the Greens?" Hermione pressed.

"You'll get to know about that once you meet them. The only other off-country of origin name I've given anything is Andromeda the Swedish Short-Snout, but you already know the story behind that one," he smiled at her, a slight twinkle in his eye as the memory of how she came by that information reddened her cheeks.

"There's a story behind that blush, Granger… How'd she meet your tattoo, Charlie?" Alana teased.

"Shower," he shrugged, making her flush further.

"Oh no. I think you might have broken her, she's gone completely red now…" Alana said with mock seriousness, suppressing a giggle.

"You two are horrible," Hermione mumbled, crossing back to try and spot the hiding dragons and calm her hammering heart as they snickered.

"You going to work her all day today?" Charlie asked, his voice slightly hopeful.

"No, Henry told me to let her go at lunchtime. I was going to try and squeeze in the Vipertooths if I could, but I don't think there's going to be time. I pulled early lunch today…" Alana sighed, tone edged with disappointment.

"Wait, Henry is only letting me work a half day?" Hermione spun around, the first she was hearing the information.

"Only because he knows Mari doesn't want you to push it the first few days back. A lot of it is just rundowns of the different breeds anyway. Honestly, I think it's easier to just do a few a day anyway. Harder to mix them up that way…"

"I was hoping because they'd let me back at work they'd let me do an entire day," she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's Mari's day off and I don't think she has plans. Maybe you can convince her you're up to more?" Alana suggested, checking the clock and frowning slightly.

"I suppose…"

"Or, you could not be a pain in the arse and just take it easy for a few days for once in your life. You aren't going to get any better at this by rushing through the first few days." Charlie scolded, shooting Alana a dirty look.

"Maybe you're right. I am a little sore, and we haven't done much besides walk and stand around." Hermione admitted.

"I asked you if you were okay!" Alana shouted, shocked.

"She'll lie to you, this one. Never take her word for it." Charlie nodded as if he was an expert.

"And how would you know that?" Hermione raised a brow at him, mildly irritated.

"Mum basically had to lock you in Grimmauld place to keep you from helping with the rebuild while you had mumblemumps. Or don't you remember?" Charlie shook his finger at her.

"Actually, she did have to lock me in. And the twins took turns guarding the door so I wouldn't get out. At least they were entertaining. George told me children's stories we don't have in the Muggle world and Fred played me at Exploding Snap and Wizard's Chess. I think your mum only let them keep me company because they've both had it before," she explained, taking a seat across from Charlie again.

"I keep forgetting you've known each other much longer than you've been here," Alana explained, taking a seat with them.

"What's the plan now? You already took her to see the Horntails I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, she named hers Kiss. We're going to have to ride out the next ten minutes, really not enough time to do much else," Alana huffed, glowering at the timepiece above them on the wall.

"What's it mean?" Charlie turned to Hermione.

"Variant on the word for small. It's spelled a little different. I wanted to keep in theme with them all having Hungarian names," she explained.

"Good choice. He is a bit smaller than the others." Charlie nodded, considering the beast he'd helped move earlier that morning while Hermione slept.

"I figure Henry won't mind if I take her to register the name in the book after lunch. It isn't exactly a strenuous task." Alana shrugged, kicking the table leg with her boot impatiently.

"I don't see why he'd mind. So long as you don't take her in with anything ornery today I doubt he'll get cross about a few extra minutes on her time sheet."

"Timesheet?" Hermione asked, looking from one to the other.

"You don't have to worry about that part. Each of us that trains you will have to turn in a sheet each day of what times we worked with you and on what. You'll have to rotate trainers from time to time and it will help make sure everything is getting covered. In case you haven't noticed, Henry likes to mix things up." Alana laughed lightly, rising to her feet with a stretch.

"You take lunch yet, Charlie?" she continued after a yawn.

"Not yet, was thinking I might go over with you lot since you're on early lunch anyway…"

"How long have you been at it today?" She pressed, noticing the circles under his eyes at the same time Hermione did.

"Just before sunup. I owe him a few more early mornings or late nights. I think Corvus wants to go to the pub tonight to celebrate Hermione's first day back so I wanted to be done on time." Charlie answered, reaching over planting a quick kiss on Hermione's temple as they rose to follow Alana out, who pretended not to notice it or when he gently smacked her bum on the way through the door.

"He does like an excuse for the pub… is he inviting Mariana?"

"Said tamers only this time, keep the numbers small."

"That's probably a good thing, Mari would guilt her out of going if she knew…" Alana winked at Hermione.

"I thought you two were worried about me working too hard?" Hermione glared slightly between them.

"Pub is play, not work." Alana justified with a laugh.

"If it's too much, we'll bring you back straight off. They'll understand, we've all been taken out a time or two and needed some downtime." Charlie shrugged, subtly giving her hand a squeeze in reassurance.

"When you get back to your place, take your potions and have a nice long nap. Maybe a bath for the leftover soreness. We'll come get you and try not to keep you out too late." Alana continued.

* * *

When they arrived at the pub later that evening, Hermione was about as well rested as she could be. The other tamers had apparently arrived before them and secured a few booths close to the dancefloor. It was the same club she'd first danced with Charlie at, but markedly less crowded tonight. She assumed because it was early still on a Thursday night.

"Look who it is! Welcome back, Hermione!" Corvus called to her, immediately pressing a shot of Firewhisky into her hand.

"You're already one behind, new kid." Peter teased, putting a second in front of her as if in challenge.

"Might want to take it slow there, this stuff packs a punch…" Colin added helpfully.

"Boys, you're in for some fun tonight." Simon barked out a laugh when he saw the sparkle of mischief in Hermione's eyes.

"If you're all here, who's on overnight tonight?" Alana asked suddenly, after a quick headcount.

"Henry wanted a shift this week, thinks he's getting rusty doing mostly desk work. Andrei is on call." Corvus answered, clearly the spokesperson for the others Hermione decided.

"You think you can handle a night with the veterans, Hermione?" Andrei teased, waggling his brows at her.

"Now, now, let's all play nice. Not everyone can drink like a big dragon their first time out…" Corvus interrupted, goading her.

Hermione locked eyes with him and knocked back the first shot like it was nothing, cocking a brow when she slammed the second. Without hesitation, she plucked his undrunk one from his fingers and took that as well. She wasn't sure if Corvus was impressed or about to propose marriage by the look on his face.

"Boys, I think we've got us another Alana…" Corvus laughed, nodding in approval

"There's only one Alana. What you've got is a Hermione, and let me tell you boys, she's about twice as hard to handle." Alana laughed as she pulled Hermione toward the bar to get their own drinks.

"You have a sobering draught handy, just in case?" She whispered in Hermione's ear as they waited for service.

"I don't but Charlie has a couple. He recommended I come out swinging and close it down once the rest of them are in their cups. He said they won't notice once they're having fun."

"He's not wrong actually. You think you can handle another shot, or do you want something else?" Alana got the attention of the barkeep.

"I prefer to drink it neat, honestly." Hermione shrugged. Alana ordered two of the same and paid, refusing Hermione's money.

After a few more minutes of banter with the men, most of which seemed to be a show of one-upmanship for Hermione's benefit, Alana got irritated and pulled her out onto the dancefloor. She let the music flow through her, trying to remember the positioning she'd learned from Charlie that first night. She didn't let Peter as close to her as she had Charlie when he joined them, not actually having an interest in the man. In short order the group of tamers was dancing in a tight knot, rotating between the two women they'd come with and the local women who'd come without dates. More drinks were brought as they danced on, Hermione feeling less nervous than she usually did in such a public setting. Whether it was because she felt safe with Alana, Charlie, and Simon there or because she was drunk she wasn't sure.

She didn't protest when the group shifted slightly as the club began to full, placing her with Alana instead. They grasped hands and danced together pressed front to front, laughing whenever the other hip checked one of the men out of the way when they tried to join in on the fun. The drunker they got, the more they put on a bit of a show, pressing closer or popping open blouse buttons if they stared too long. She felt as comfortable with her as she did with Ginny, maybe more so, despite not having known her long.

She blushed furiously when Alana grabbed her face and smacked a friendly, if slightly wet, kiss on her cheek with a little whoop when they made the decision to head back to the booth and wait for their next round of drinks. They had the booth to themselves for a few moments, Andrei had headed back early to check on Henry with Simon close behind him claiming to have other plans. Hermione guessed the other plans were a certain mediwitch you made not been invited. Colin and Peter were busy chatting up a pair of twins at the bar while Corvus and Charlie ordered drinks.

"Granger, I've gotta tell you it's great having another woman on the team. I didn't realise I was missing having girlfriends until you showed up…" Alana gushed, leaning heavily on her shoulder as her eyes darted around the room.

"What about Mari?" Hermione asked with mild concern.

"Love her to pieces, but it isn't quite the same, you know? She works her arse off and is way smarter than she lets on, but she doesn't really understand what I do all day. She's never been in the field, she only sees things from the outside. It's nice having someone that gets it…" she explained with a little shrug, focusing her attention on Hermione.

"I think I know what you mean…" Hermione hugged her, placing a kiss of her own on her cheek.

"You two a thing now?" Charlie teased, flopping into the other side of the booth with three fresh glasses.

"She's only got eyes for you, Weasley," Alana reassured with a little wink.

"Careful how loud you say that…" Charlie warned, confirming that none of the other tamers were in earshot.

"Cor! As if they don't already assume you're bedding her…" Alana laughed loudly, making Charlie roll his eyes at her.

"We don't need to confirm it though!" Charlie cautioned, sliding Alana her drink.

"You having fun?" he asked Hermione.

"I am, actually. I wasn't sure I would," she admitted, taking a long swallow of firewhisky.

"Nervous about seeing the guys again?" He smirked.

"A little bit. I think my little stunt with the Horntail might have helped endear me to them. Being able to hold my liquor seems to be helping."

"That won't last long. When you catch fire the first time you'll be on their good sides forever." Alana clapped her on the back and stood on the bench to flag down Corvus and the others.

"Oi! Corvus!" She bellowed, making him snap his head around. Hermione was impressed he could hear her over the music.

"What do you want Peterson?" he seemed to snarl back, though the bite wasn't really in it.

"How about you take me home and take my clothes off, smart mouth?" she called back with a devilish wink.

"Well fuck…" he laughed as he approached, letting the woman climb onto his back from over Hermione.

"Is she being serious?" Hermione looked on shocked as the two disappeared out the front door, downing their whiskey and leaving the glasses at the bar as they left.

"As dragon pox. Alana doesn't fuck around when she decides she wants to get laid. She and Corvus tumble into bed together every once in the while when she doesn't want to find someone in town. He doesn't do relationships and that's how she likes it." Charlie explained.

"I learn more about her everyday…" Hermione shook her head with a little laugh.

"This place will do that to you," Charlie chuckled lowly, fixing her to her seat with a smouldering look.

"What's that look about?" She asked, cocking her head to the side with a smirk all her own.

"How about I take you home and get you naked?"

"How about you follow me to the back instead?" She suggested, her boldness catching him by surprise as she slid out of the booth and made her way to the bathroom.

Charlie followed a few moments later after he was certain he must have heard her correctly. When he turned the corner toward the loos she caught him by the shirt and tugged him to her, crashing her lips into his. He was taken aback by the speed with which she got him into a stall and undid his belt, never taking her mouth off his.

"Holy shite…" he groaned when she fished her hand down his jeans and took hold of him firmly.

She hopped up into his arms, urging him to spin around and pin her to the tile wall behind them. A few moments fumbling and he had her jeans and knickers out of the way, running a knuckle over her folds and finding her more than ready for him. She gripped his shoulders and dug in her nails when he entered her, stifling a cry as she threw her head back.

"Sweet Merlin, how long have you been wet?" He asked, pumping into her rapidly.

"Since I saw you pin down that Ridgeback…" she admitted, moaning directly into his ear.

"Fuck." He groaned, resisting the urge to cum just from her words, doubling his pace in an effort to get her to climax.

"Yes! Just like that… Good Godric, Charlie…" she moaned, clenching her walls around him.

"I'm not going to last long…" he panted.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck… Charlie…" she muttered incoherently in his ear before cresting with a small scream. He was close behind her, nearly dropping her to the floor as he did.

"I don't know where you got that idea from, but holy hell…" he panted, tucking himself back in his pants before setting his jeans and belt to rights.

"I didn't wait to get home. I don't care what Mari said about no sex… I needed that more than I needed more rest…"

"Bollocks. I forgot we were supposed to wait a few days…"

"My body, my rules," Hermione laughed, pulling him into a searing kiss.

"So long as you aren't hurt," he relented when she finally let him go.

"There was one thing I didn't consider though…" she bit her lip and shot him a nervous glance.

"Oh?" he knit his brows together with worry.

"How do we get out of here without anyone noticing?" she laughed.

"Did you pay your tab?"

"I didn't have one," She shook her head, confused.

"We can apparate then, I'm all paid up. Hold tight." He grabbed her with a laugh, twisting them away like it was nothing.


	17. Chapter 17: Climbing Up the Walls

**AN:** This week has been a mess. BUT it's my birthday, so updates all around! Have a short little lemon. It's how I want to celebrate. Title from the song Oh My God by P!nk.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or in any way profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

 **Climbing Up the Walls**

"Sweet Merlin, woman..." Charlie groaned when they landed back in her bed in a tangle of limbs and a chorus of Hermione's chuckles.

"I see we made it to my bed this time…" she teased.

"I'm not shagging you again. I'm already dead. You've killed me. I am but a husk of a dragon tamer that once was…"

"So dramatic…" Hermione teased, snuggling into his arms.

"Easy for you to say. You didn't just have your favourite fantasy played out by someone who might, actually, be barmier than you are…"

"Your favourite fantasy, huh?" Hermione asked, rolling on top of him and boxing him in between her arms.

"Yeah. And not just the 'can't wait, need you now' of it all either. Had you really been wet since the Ridgeback? I didn't even know you saw that…"

"I know I was supposed to go right back to mine after filing the paperwork for Kiss, but I couldn't help sneaking another peek at the Ridgebacks. I honestly didn't expect to see you in there wrestling one to the ground. With your shirt off…" she groaned at the memory, getting worked up all over again.

"Well, Henry needed an inoculation. He's on his last round before he'll be too big for me to pin down on my own. Were you impressed?" He smirked up at her.

"Very…" she whispered, vanishing his shirt with a wink and beginning to kiss her way down his chest.

"What did I say about not shagging you again?" he groaned, half-heartedly trying to shoo her away.

"Who said anything about you do anything? Just relax, Charlie." She smiled against his skin, taking a long lick from his navel to his throat.

"What are you doing?" he asked with a shiver when she banished the rest of his clothing and settled herself between his legs.

"What does it look like?" She chuckled, taking his hardening member in her hand and enveloping it with her mouth.

"Bloody hell…" he panted, running his hands gently through her curls as she bobbed up and down on him. Her little moans and swirls of the tongue making him groan.

"If you intend to use that for any other purpose, witch, you're going to be out of luck real soon if you keep that up…" he arched into her when she swallowed him hungrily, showing no signs of stopping.

"Hermione…" he moaned as he came in her mouth, nearly passing out when she milked all he had to offer out of him and swallowed without complaint. She laughed and crawled back up the bed next to him, stripping off her clothing as she did.

"I don't think I can go again after that." He breathed, feeling completely drained.

"I don't need you to, I'm already almost there… just touch me, please…" she begged, dragging his hand over to feel her wetness.

"Fuck. How are you this wet again?" he groaned, lamenting the fact that he knew he wouldn't be able to get hard again so soon.

"Bugger this. Come here…" he lifted her suddenly, positioning her over his face as he dove into her folds, lapping at her centre as she moaned and swayed above him.

"Okay, this is better…" she admitted, swirling her fingers over her clit as he prodded her slit with his tongue. He murmured something she couldn't make it out, sending a vibration straight through her.

"Sweet Merlin, yes! Charlie!" She came hard, falling forward off of him as she shook.

"You good?" he asked her, panting as he caught his breath.

"Uh huh…" she barely articulated, flopping herself back next to him and letting him wrap his arms around her.

"I'm off duty tomorrow, is it alright if I stay here tonight?" he asked as their bodies returned to more normal rhythms.

"Charlie, I will be personally offended if you leave tonight. I have every intention of shagging your brains out first thing in the morning…" she laughed, nuzzling into his chest.

"I think we've created a monster…" he laughed, planting a kiss on the top of her curls with a sigh.


End file.
